Chin Appeal Filed on Murder Charges

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Conceding that his clean room was not all that clean, lawyers for a former pharmacist charged with second degree murder say prosecutors have failed to satisfy a key element of state law, a specific act of the defendant that caused 11 deaths.
In a 19-page filing with the Michigan Supreme Court, lawyers for Glenn Chin said they wouldn't even dispute the prosecution's claim that their client demonstrated "a wonton and willful disregard of sanitary standards."
Chin and co-defendant Barry Cadden have been charged with the 11 counts of second degree murder as a result of their roles in the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak. Both are now asking the state's highest court to effectively dismiss the case due to a lack of evidence.
Stating that the prosecution hasn't even tried to identify a specific act by Chin that caused the drugs to become contaminated with deadly fungus, Chin's appeal notes repeatedly that even the prosecution's own evidence show the drug, methylprednisolone acetate, was sterile when it left his control.
Describing the process by which the drugs were produced and placed in vials for shipment, the appeal states, "Something really bad happened somewhere in this chain."
Kevin Gentry, Chin's lead apellate attorney, wrote that prosecutors were attempting to cover up their lack of causal evidence "with a sense of generic responsibility."
The filing describes the history of the case, including the recent Appeals Court decision denying Chin's claim that the case should never be placed before a jury.
Charging that prosecutors in the state Attorney General's office made "a gigantic assumption," the appeal states there was "no evidence at all that defendant Chin caused the contamination or deaths."
The appeal includes a call for "immediate action, noting that Chin already has been confined in the Livingston County Jail for an extended period of time.
Chin and Cadden were previously convicted in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. on charges of racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud. Cadden has been serving a nine-year federal sentence, while Chin was given an eight year sentence.
Regardless of the outcome of the Michigan case, the two could have their federal sentences increased to 17.5 years under a motion set to be heard next month in Boston before U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns.
Two separate federal juries declined to convict the two of second degree murder as part of a racketeering charge.
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