MI Prosecutor Under Review... Retires

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A lead prosecutor in the case against two former pharmacists charged with second degree murder has abruptly retired even as he remains under scrutiny for allegations that he failed to disclose exculpatory evidence in an unrelated case.
A spokeswoman for the Michigan Attorney General's office said today that Assistant Attorney General Gregory Townsend retired on July 12.
The retirement came as the Oakland County prosecutor was reviewing allegations that Townsend, while working in the Oakland County prosecutor's office, failed to disclose information regarding witnesses in the arson trial of Juwan Deering.
Subsequently Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald, citing possible ethical violations, announced that the charges against Deering would be dropped. Deering was convicted on arson murder charges and has served 14 years of a life sentence.
Townsend was the lead attorney in the prosecution of Barry J. Cadden and Glenn A. Chin, the former Massachusetts pharmacists charged with 11 counts of second degree murder. In the appeals cases Assistant Attorney General Erik R. Jenkins has been prosecuting the cases.
In disclosing Townsend's departure, spokeswoman Lynsey Mukomel, said that an ongoing exhaustive review of Townsend's cases in the attorney general's office had thus far found no cause for concern.
"We take Prosecutor McDonald’s findings seriously, as we did when she first announced the Special Prosecutor's review in May," Mukomel wrote in an email statement.
She said that when the charges surfaced, Townsend was reassigned from his docket while the office conducted a detailed audit of his cases.
At that time, Assistant Attorney General Townsend was reassigned from his docket for the purpose of performing a comprehensive audit of his work. AAG Townsend retired from the Department July 12.
"While the audit remains ongoing, the department's exhaustive review of his cases has not identified any that pose a concern," she said, adding that "the Department remains committed to its due diligence and will be contacting defense counsel in cases identified as deserving additional scrutiny.
"No additional details will be released at this time given that process continues," she concluded.
Townsend appeared in district court and circuit court pursuing the charges against Chin and Cadden which stem from the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated drugs shipped from the Massachusetts drug compounding center where they both worked.
The disclosure comes as a status conference on the murder charges is scheduled for Friday before Judge Michael Hatty.
The session, if it is held, is not expected to result in any major action since Chin and Cadden both have appeals pending before the Michigan Supreme Court. The appeals seek to overturn the ruling by lower courts that there was sufficient evidence for the second degree murder charges to be heard by a jury.
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