Judge Sets NECC Trial Schedule

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A federal judge has set a time limit of 60 hours apiece for both defendants and prosecutors in the upcoming criminal trial of the remaining defendants in the racketeering and mail fraud case stemming from a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak.
In a four-page ruling dated Friday, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns also set an Oct. 15 date for opening arguments in his Boston, Mass. courtroom.
The eight remaining defendants were among 14 indicted in late 2014 following a two year federal probe of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak that sickened some 778 patients in more than 20 states. Though 76 of those patients died, the remaining defendants have not been charged in any of those deaths.
All of the remaining defendants, however, were affiliated with the now defunct New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the outbreak.
The October trial marks the second time in the case that Stearns has placed time limits on both the prosecution and defendants. He also set limits in the trial of codefendant and NECC supervising pharmacist Glenn Chin.
Stearns order states that jury selection will begin on Oct. 2 and 16 jurors will be selected before opening arguments. The government will be allowed nine challenges while the defendants will be allowed 13.
Stearns also asked both sides to propose a summary of the case to provide to jurors and offered one of his own. Both sides are also required to provide a proposed questionnaire for prospective jurors to fill out.
The order sets a 60 hour limit for the prosecution and 60 hours combined for the defendants. And the limits also apply to cross examination. If Stearns follows his past practice of limiting trial testimony to four hours per day, the trial could be over by the end of November.
The eight going on trial are Gene Svirskiy, Christopher Leary, Joseph Evanosky, Sharon Carter, Alla Stepanets, Gregory Conigliaro, Kathy Chin and Michelle Thomas.
As Stearns noted in his proposed summary six of the defendants were licensed pharmacists. Gregory Conigliaro was an officer and part owner of NECC while Sharon Carter was a pharmacy technician.
The indictment, Stearns summary states, charged the defendants with conspiring to commit fraud by knowingly marketing drugs that had been manufactured in non-sterile conditions.
Chin and NECC president Barry J. Cadden were convicted of racketeering and mail fraud charges in two separate trials. Both are now serving prison sentences. They were cleared of second degree murder charges.
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