The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in favor of former state Gov. Rick Snyder in the Flint Water probe and ended the seven-year-long case with no convictions.
On Tuesday, prosecutors said a series of appellate court rulings meant that they could no longer pursue criminal cases against Snyder and others who are accused of wrongdoing in the case. The ruling is the latest and apparently final setback in a troubled prosecution effort that has lasted nearly a decade and spanned the terms of two attorneys general.
Michigan Ends Flint Water Probe
In a statement, prosecutors said that the residents of Flint deserved their day in court. They added that if a jury decided that the defendants were not guilty of the charged offenses, they would accept it. However, they argued that to deny the opportunity to present the evidence and to let the victims tell their stories is heartbreaking.
The development comes more than nine years after state-appointed leaders decided to draw drinking water from the Flint River in an attempt to save money. That decision is believed to have led to a cascade of other failures, as per the New York Times.
Local officials allegedly neglected to implement corrosion controls that caused lead to leach from the pipes. Health officials also assured residents that the water was safe despite people complaining that it smelled bad, tasted funny, and was discolored.
But when the scale of the errors had become clear, children had been drinking water with dangerous quantities of lead and at least 12 people died in a Legionnaires' outbreak. It was something that prosecutors said was linked to the new water source, which caused trust in the government to be strained.
Many residents of Flint demanded criminal penalties for the political leaders who they claimed failed them. There were points when that effort seemed that it would bear something as prosecutors appointed by the previous attorney general announced a wave of charges in 2016.
Alleged Willful Neglect of Duty
The former governor was previously charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty in an investigation into the Flint water crisis. However, he and his health director and seven other individuals were cleared of charges last year after the state's Supreme Court found issues with the indictment process that was used, according to Axios.
The Michigan Supreme Court justices in September declined to hear appeals in seven of the other officials' cases. Furthermore, Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement has not participated in the cases, citing her former occupation as Snyder's chief legal counsel.
In a joint statement released on Tuesday, prosecutors said that the state's Supreme Court put the final nail in the coffin for the Flint Water Prosecutions. They argued that the high court decided that a process that has stood in place for more than a century was not "good enough" to hold the people responsible for the Flint Water crisis accountable for their actions.
The prosecution team said that it was planning to release a full report on its efforts to bring criminal charges against the defendants next year. Currently, state law prohibits the evidence presented to Judge David Newblatt from being made public. Prosecutors said that they were working to change this particular law, said the Detroit Free Press.
