NECC Defendants Want "Outbreak" Ban

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

In the latest in a series of pre-emptive moves, the remaining defendants in the criminal case stemming from a deadly 2012 outbreak are asking a federal judge to ban the use of the word "outbreak" in their upcoming trial, citing the possibility of "extreme and irreversible undue prejudice."
The joint motion also asks U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to "specifically enforce" his previous order barring prosecutors from making mention of "patient harm" from contaminated spinal steroids during the trial scheduled to begin with opening arguments on Oct. 15.
The eight-page motion asks Stearns to order the government "to instruct witnesses that such evidence has been excluded from the trial and is not be mentioned in front of the jury.
Specifically cited by the defendants is the possible testimony of Dr. John Culclasure of Nashville, who gave tearful testimony in the prior trials of two primary defendants in the case. Culclasure, whose name appears on the list of possible prosecution witnesses, injected dozens of his patients with fungus tainted methylprednisolone acetate at the Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgical Center.
Also cited was the possible testimony of two officials of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both of whom gave extensive testimony at the trials of Barry J. Cadden and Glenn Chin. Cadden, Chin and the eight remaining defendants were all affiliated with the New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the 2012 outbreak which sickened 778 patients and killed 76 of them.
Stearns ruled previously that evidence of patient harm from the contaminated steroids could not be used in the upcoming trial.
Lawyers for the eight defendants have repeatedly stressed that none of their clients were involved in the production of the deadly steroids.
In the joint motion filed Monday, lawyers for the defendants pointed to dozens of exhibits that prosecutors have listed as possible evidence contain evidence of the deaths or the tainted steroids.
""This type of evidence is squarely prohibited by the court order," the motion concludes.
The motion is but the latest in a series by the defendants to limit the evidence and testimony prosecutors can utilize during the upcoming trial.
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