Flint water scandal charges: Slap on the wrist for ex-governor
By Martha Grevatt posted on January 20, 2021
Activists demand justice for Flint, 2016.
In April 2014 the city of Flint, Mich., made the fatal decision to switch its water supply from Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the heavily contaminated Flint River. Flint residents have waited almost seven years for the responsible parties in particular former Governor Rick Snyder to face criminal charges.
That wait has come to an end. However, Flint residents are angry and disappointed over the actual charges brought by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel against Snyder: just two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty. Lower-ranking current and former officials face heavier felony charges, including perjury, misconduct in office and involuntary manslaughter. Nine individuals have been charged.
(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
DETROIT (CN) A federal judge granted preliminary approval Thursday to a massive settlement for Flint residents who were poisoned by contaminated water.
The settlement is currently worth more than $641 million and has been described as the “most complex settlement I’ve ever seen” by U.S. District Judge Judith Levy, a Barack Obama appointee who is overseeing the negotiations.
“Generally, a settlement between an adult plaintiff and a defendant does not require court approval. But because this settlement presents a hybrid structure that includes a class component for unrepresented adults and involves a substantial number of potential claims of Minors preliminary approval of certain aspects of the proposed settlement is both appropriate and necessary,” Levy wrote in an opinion released Thursday morning.
Snyder attorney says he was charged in wrong county, will ask for Flint water charges to be dismissed
Updated Jan 19, 2021;
Posted Jan 19, 2021
Former Gov. Rick Snyder stays silent as barrage of media asks questions after his video arraignment on charges related to the Flint water crisis on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021 outside the Genesee County Jail in downtown Flint. (Cody Scanlan | MLive.com)
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FLINT, MI Attorneys for former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder say they will ask for Flint water criminal charges against him be dismissed because he was charged in the wrong county.
Snyder was charged last week with two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty related to the water crisis after indictment by a one-man grand jury.
By JOE GUILLEN, CHRISTINE MACDONALD AND JENNIFER DIXON | Detroit Free Press | Published: January 14, 2021 DETROIT (Tribune News Service) Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appeared in a Flint court Thursday morning and pleaded not guilty to two charges of willful neglect of duty as state prosecutors revealed indictments against nine defendants as a result of the Flint water crisis. Despite the lower-level charges compared with other defendants, the case against Snyder marked a significant moment in the state s political history. Snyder is the first Michigan governor or former governor to be charged with a crime for alleged conduct while in office. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel praised the high-profile prosecutions led by her office s Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud as well as Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. Nessel had said earlier that she had walled herself off from the criminal cases, turning her focus instead to ongoing civil cases related to the contamination of
Former governor Rick Snyder charged over role in Flint, Michigan water poisoning
Almost seven years after the crime began, Michigan’s Flint Water Prosecution Team announced indictments Thursday of nine state officials for their roles in the poisoning of the city’s population and then covering up the dangerous condition of the water. Flint has become known around the world for the odious crime carried out against the population in which its most basic necessity clean water was replaced with water laced with lead, sickening residents and resulting in numerous deaths.
Most significant in the indictments is that of former governor Rick Snyder who faces two willful neglect of duty charges, misdemeanors with potential sentences of one year each and/or a $1,000 fine. The limited charges fly in the face of Flint residents who consider him chiefly responsible for the suffering they are still enduring. Snyder was governor when the switch over to Flint River water was made in 2014. His ad