FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A judge is expected to decide whether Michigan’s health director should face trial in the deaths of two men during a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak amid Flint’s water crisis.
FILE – In this Nov. 15, 2017 file photo, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, center, talks with his lawyers Larry Willey, second from left, and Chip Chamberlain, right, during his preliminary examination in Genesee County District Court in Flint, Mich. New accounting figures show Michigan has spent nearly $25 million on attorneys handling cases involving the Flint lead-tainted water crisis that began in 2014. (Terray Sylvester/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)
The attorney general’s office says Nick Lyon failed to alert the public about the outbreak in a timely manner. Some experts have blamed the outbreak on Flint’s water supply, which wasn’t properly treated when it was pulled from the Flint River in 2014 and 2015.
Judge David Goggins is expected to announce Wednesday whether there’s enough evidence to send Lyon to trial on involuntary manslaughter charges. The judge has been sporadically hearing testimony since last fall.
Lyon denies wrongdoing. His lawyers say it would be a “grave mistake” to keep the case alive and “dangerously chill” all Michigan public employees.
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