NECC Owner Denied Separate Trial

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A bid to have a separate trial by a former part owner of a defunct drug compounding company has been denied in a brief order from a federal judge.
In the order U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns wrote that Gregory Conigliaro, one time vice president and part owner of the New England Compounding Center, will be tried along with nine other defendants beginning in early October.
That trial will come on the sixth anniversary of the deadly fungal meningitis outbreak caused by fungus riddled steroids shipped from NECC's Framingham, Mass. offices. Seventy six patients from 20 states died after being injected with NECC's drugs.
Conigliaro's lawyer had argued that Conigliaro, who faces a single conspiracy charge, would be unduly prejudiced by the evidence against co-dfendants facing multiple charges.
Stearns, however, concluded that instructions to jurors could avert any prejudice.
He also noted that he already has ruled that evidence of deaths and illnesses from the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak cannot be used at the upcoming trial.
Stearns said he was confident his ruling would enable the jury to focus its attention "on the actual allegations that remain against the defendants."
He also cited the "cardinal principle" that the law favors the joint trial of defendants who are indicted together to "prevent inconsistent verdicts and to conserve judicial and prosecutorial resources."
Conigliaro was one of 14 indicted following a two year federal probe of the deadly outbreak. Two. of those defendants, Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin, are already serving lengthy prison sentences following their conviction on racketeering and conspiracy charges.
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