2012 Outbreak Murder Case in MI Appeals Court

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Lawyers for a former pharmacist charged with 11 counts of second degree murder say the charges must be dropped because prosecutors failed to identify a particular act by the defendant that caused the deaths.
In filings with the Michigan Court of Appeals, lawyers for Glenn Chin are asking the court to overrule the decision of a Livingston County Judge who found that Chin and co-defendant Barry Cadden must stand trial on the charges.
State prosecutors from the Michigan Attorney General's office in a 27-page filing with the appeals court argued that not only did the evidence show crimes had been committed, they also showed there was probable cause to believe Chin and Cadden committed them.
The case stems from the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis caused by contaminated drugs shipped from the New England Compounding Center, where Cadden was part owner and president and Chin was a supervising pharmacist.
The deadly drugs, thousands of vials of methylprednisolone acetate, were prepared in the clean room where Chin was the supervisor. And a batch of those drugs were shipped to the Michigan facility where the 11 victims were being treated.
"He (Chin) repeatedly ignored and often promoted dangerous practices," the prosecution brief states, asserting that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it ruled that Chin and Cadden must face trial.
Citing the testimony of employees who worked under Chin's supervision, the prosecution brief states that Chin, especially in 2012, threw safety precautions aside and ordered a speedup of production.
When one employee raised questions about the consequences, the filing states, Chin repled,"That's why we have lawyers."
Citing testimony on lack of testing and the improper handling and labeling of drugs in Chin's clean room, the filing states that when federal investigators swooped down on NECC's Framingham, Mass. office, Cadden and Chin began to try to cover their tracks. Chin, for instance, was seen throwing out medications as federal investigators were closing in.
There was "ample reason to believe that but for Chin's action at NECC these deaths would have been avoided," the filing concludes.
While the Attorney General's filing was 27-pages long, the Chin brief was a brief six pages.
While admitting that prosecutors proved malice, Kevin Gentry, Chin's appeals court lawyer, wrote that malice by itself was insufficient under Michigan law.
"There must be a causal link between the defendant's conduct and the victims' injury," the filing states.
"The prosecution has not shown, nor really tried to show any particular act of the defendant that caused the deaths" the filing concludes.
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