By Walter F. Roche Jr.
The sentencing for the prosecution's star witness in the criminal case stemming from the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak has been delayed yet again and won't take place until nearly six years after the original indictments.
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns, sitting in Boston, Mass., today set a Nov. 3 sentencing date for Robert Ronzio, the former sales director for the New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the outbreak.
Ronzio, who entered a guilty plea to a single count of conspiring to defraud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, appeared in multiple trials of his former NECC co-workers. Those included the trials of Barry J. Cadden, NECC's former president and part owner, and Glenn Chin, a former NECC supervising pharmacist.
Chin and Cadden were among 14 persons connected to NECC and its sales arm who were indicted in December of 2014 following a two year probe of the outbreak.
Chin and Cadden are now serving federal prison sentences following their conviction on racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud charges. Cadden got a nine year sentence, while Chin was given an eight year sentence.
Ronzio's sentencing had been set for July 27. Prior to that an April 22 sentencing date had been set.
At the prior trials Ronzio testified at length about NECC's operations and how they led to the production of contaminated steroids that ultimately killed dozens of unsuspecting patients.
Cadden and Chin, meanwhile, are facing second degree murder charges in Michigan, where many of the outbreak victims resided. A pre-trial hearing is set for June 24 at 8:30 a.m. before Livingston County District Court Judge Shauna Murphy.
She is set to rule whether state prosecutors have presented sufficient evidence for the murder charges to be presented to a jury.
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