Two figures in the Flint water crisis are due in court Monday.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services director Nick Lyon returns to district court in Flint for the 21st day of his preliminary hearing on a variety of charges, including involuntary manslaughter.
Defense attorneys have been bringing in witnesses to undermine prosecution witnesses who have been critical of Lyon’s handling of a deadly Legionnaires Disease outbreak in Genesee County. At least a dozen people died and many more were hospitalized with the pneumonia-like illness between 2014 and 2015.
Just up the street, former Flint Emergency Manager Gerald Ambrose is scheduled to appear in a circuit courtroom for a pre-trial hearing. In addition to being Flint’s fourth and final emergency manager, Ambrose served the three other EMs as the city’s finance director.
Ambrose is facing willful neglect of duty and misconduct in office charges, as well as conspiracy to commit false pretenses.
Ambrose waived his preliminary hearing, placing him further down the path to trial than any other Flint water crisis criminal defendants.
In all, 15 current and former government officials have been criminally charged as part of a special investigation into Flint’s water crisis.
Four defendants have cut plea deals with a special prosecutor, agreeing to cooperate in exchange for lesser penalties.
