Friday, October 20, 2017
Chin Murder Case Goes to Jury
By Walter F Roche Jr.
BOSTON-.The lawyer for a former supervising pharmacist charged with 25 counts of second degree murder told a jury today that his client was not at all qualified for his job and couldn't supervise anyone.
Delivering closing arguments for Glenn Chin, Stephen Weymouth also said that state and federal investigators mishandled the investigation of the deadly fungal meningitis outbreak Chin is accused of causing. As a result, he said the real cause of the outbreak will never be known.
Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, said Chin knew that the reckless way he was compounding steroids could result in deaths. The jury is scheduled to begin deliberations on Monday. In addition to second degree murder, Chin is charged with racketeering, mail fraud and violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetics Act.
Citing multiple action level alerts that something was wrong, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan said Chin "saw the flashing lights, but chose to ignore them."
"It was entirely preventable," said Strachan.
Even after people were dying, Strachan said Chin instructed his staff to clean up before state and federal investigators arrived.
The outbreak, caused by fungus loaded steroids, sickened some 778 patients in 13 states, killing 76 of them. State and federal regulators eventually concluded that thousands of contaminated vials of methylprednisolone acetate produced at the New England Compounding Center were the cause.
Weymouth, however, said that even as the outbreak unfolded, agents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rushed and botched their investigation.
"The FDA dropped the ball," he said."The government failed to proved how the methylprednisolone acetate became contaminated."
Citing testimony during Chin's 21 day trial, Weymouth said the investigators didn't even take samples from the very area of the clean room where the steroids were compounded.
After the closing arguments, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns read instructions to the jurors, telling them that they needed to vote on each count of the indictment and their decision, whether it be guilty or not guilty, must be unanimous.
That became an issue in the recent trial of Chin's co-defendant and former boss, Barry J. Cadden, who is now serving a nine year federal prison sentence. He was convicted of mail fraud and racketeering but acquitted on the same 25 second degree murder charges now facing Chin.
Records of the Cadden trial show that a majority of the jurors voted for conviction on some, but not all of the murder counts. The records do not show whether a unanimous vote for acquittal was ever recorded.
Weymouth in his closing remarks said that it was Cadden who oversaw every aspect of NECC's operations, including the clean rooms Chin was charged with supervising.
"Every decision was made by Barry Cadden," Weymouth said, adding that it was Cadden who taught Chin what little he knew about sterile compounding.
Calling his client a competent regular pharmacist, Weymouth said Chin "was not trained in sterilization" and had no training in that field whatsoever.
As for being put in charge, "he didn't no how to supervise anyone," said Weymouth.
Strachan said Chin chose to violate an oath he took when he became a pharmacist not to harm any patients.
She said records showed Chin repeatedly failed to adequately sterilize steroids when he removed them from an autoclave after only 15 minutes. She said in some cases the steroids were "cooked" for only four minutes at the proper temperature and pressure. She said 27 minutes were required, based on a manual for the machine.
She cited records showing other drugs besides the methylprednisolone acetate proved to be contaminated with fungus and bacteria. His clean room, she said, was "a fungal zoo."
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com
BOSTON-.The lawyer for a former supervising pharmacist charged with 25 counts of second degree murder told a jury today that his client was not at all qualified for his job and couldn't supervise anyone.
Delivering closing arguments for Glenn Chin, Stephen Weymouth also said that state and federal investigators mishandled the investigation of the deadly fungal meningitis outbreak Chin is accused of causing. As a result, he said the real cause of the outbreak will never be known.
Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, said Chin knew that the reckless way he was compounding steroids could result in deaths. The jury is scheduled to begin deliberations on Monday. In addition to second degree murder, Chin is charged with racketeering, mail fraud and violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetics Act.
Citing multiple action level alerts that something was wrong, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan said Chin "saw the flashing lights, but chose to ignore them."
"It was entirely preventable," said Strachan.
Even after people were dying, Strachan said Chin instructed his staff to clean up before state and federal investigators arrived.
The outbreak, caused by fungus loaded steroids, sickened some 778 patients in 13 states, killing 76 of them. State and federal regulators eventually concluded that thousands of contaminated vials of methylprednisolone acetate produced at the New England Compounding Center were the cause.
Weymouth, however, said that even as the outbreak unfolded, agents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rushed and botched their investigation.
"The FDA dropped the ball," he said."The government failed to proved how the methylprednisolone acetate became contaminated."
Citing testimony during Chin's 21 day trial, Weymouth said the investigators didn't even take samples from the very area of the clean room where the steroids were compounded.
After the closing arguments, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns read instructions to the jurors, telling them that they needed to vote on each count of the indictment and their decision, whether it be guilty or not guilty, must be unanimous.
That became an issue in the recent trial of Chin's co-defendant and former boss, Barry J. Cadden, who is now serving a nine year federal prison sentence. He was convicted of mail fraud and racketeering but acquitted on the same 25 second degree murder charges now facing Chin.
Records of the Cadden trial show that a majority of the jurors voted for conviction on some, but not all of the murder counts. The records do not show whether a unanimous vote for acquittal was ever recorded.
Weymouth in his closing remarks said that it was Cadden who oversaw every aspect of NECC's operations, including the clean rooms Chin was charged with supervising.
"Every decision was made by Barry Cadden," Weymouth said, adding that it was Cadden who taught Chin what little he knew about sterile compounding.
Calling his client a competent regular pharmacist, Weymouth said Chin "was not trained in sterilization" and had no training in that field whatsoever.
As for being put in charge, "he didn't no how to supervise anyone," said Weymouth.
Strachan said Chin chose to violate an oath he took when he became a pharmacist not to harm any patients.
She said records showed Chin repeatedly failed to adequately sterilize steroids when he removed them from an autoclave after only 15 minutes. She said in some cases the steroids were "cooked" for only four minutes at the proper temperature and pressure. She said 27 minutes were required, based on a manual for the machine.
She cited records showing other drugs besides the methylprednisolone acetate proved to be contaminated with fungus and bacteria. His clean room, she said, was "a fungal zoo."
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment