Cadden Seeks Dismissal of Murder Charges

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Arguing that the second degree murder charges he faces should never be placed before a jury, lawyers for a former pharmacist are asking the Michigan Appeals Court to overturn a recent circuit court judge's decision and order all charges dismissed.
In a 21-page filing this week, Gerald Gleeson, Cadden's attorney, wrote that the case against Cadden is fatally flawed because prosecutors failed to identify even a single act by Cadden that caused the deaths of 11 Livingston County patients.
Cadden was charged with 11 counts of second degree murder by the Michigan Attorney General's Office. Cadden was president and part owner of a Massachusetts drug compounding firm blamed for a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
Cadden is asking the appeals court to allow him to appeal the so-called bindover order that was affirmed by Circuit Court Judge Michael Hatty on Dec. 10.
"The bindover rulings were wrong as a matter of law," the appeals filing states, adding that the state after nearly a decade of investigation still cannot identify a single act by Cadden that caused thousands of vials of methylprednisolone acetate to become contaminated by a deadly fungus.
Prosecutors, he wrote, sought to hide their failure by burying it "under a mountain of testimony."
Instead Gleeson wrote, it was co-defendant Glenn Chin who supervised the clean room where the deadly doses were put together. Chin has been charged with the same 11 counts of second degree murder.
"Glenn Chin, not Barry Cadden was responsible for supervising the clean room," the filing states, adding that Chin was the one primarily responsible for compounding drugs at the now defunct New England Compounding Center.
It was Chin, the appeal states, who put increased production over safety and ordered workers to cut corners.
Stating that Cadden was not involved in day-to-day operations at NECC, the filing states that according to court testimony, Cadden never even went in to the clean room during the time the deadly steroids were produced.
Stating that prosecutors, lacking real evidence, proceeded on the premise that Cadden should have been aware of how bad the conditions were in the clean room.
"This type of causal daisy chain is unprecedented in Michigan," Gleeson wrote, concluding that the lower courts bindover orders should be reversed "and the charges against Mr. Cadden should be dismissed."
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com