Michigan Supreme Court WIPES charges against former Gov. Snyder, his health director and seven others over Flint water crisis after evidence against them was issued in secret by a one-judge grand jury

The charges facing former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and heads of the state and city of Flint over their handling of the 2014 water crisis were dropped Tuesday

The state's Supreme Court ruled the one-judge grand jury method the DA's office used to indict the officials was not authorized

The method is a century-old, rarely used process to hear evidence in secret and get indictments against, and it is still not known why officials used it

It's a blow to DA Dana Nessel, who vowed to get justice for the estimated 100,000 who fell ill and 12 who died in Flint

Last year, the state agreed to pay $600 million in damages to the people of Flint

June 28, 2022

Charges against former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, his health director and seven others in the Flint water scandal were dismissed after the state Supreme Court ruled that a judge had no power to issue indictments under a century-old, rarely used law.

The state laws 'authorize a judge to investigate, subpoena witnesses, and issue arrest warrants' as a one-person grand jury, the Supreme Court said said on Tuesday.

'But they do not authorize the judge to issue indictments,' the court said in a 6-0 opinion.

The challenge was filed by lawyers for former health director Nick Lyon, but the decision also applies to Snyder and others who were indicted by Genesee County Judge David Newblatt.

Lyon and Michigan's former chief medical executive, Dr. Eden Wells, were charged with involuntary manslaughter for nine deaths related to Legionnaires' disease when Flint's water system might have lacked enough chlorine to combat bacteria in the river water.

It's an astonishing defeat for Attorney General Dana Nessel, who took office in 2019 and got rid of a special prosecutor and put together a new team to investigate whether crimes were committed when lead contaminated Flint's water system in 2014 to 2015.

Sauce/moar: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10961255/Court-says-indictments-invalid-Flint-water-scandal.html

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Nine of Michigan and Flint's top officials who oversaw the disaster were cleared, including (Top row L-R): : Jarrod Agen, Gerald Ambrose, Richard Baird, Howard Croft, Darnell Earley (Bottom row L-R): Nicolas Lyon, Nancy Peeler, Rick Snyder and Eden Wells