Tag Archives: involuntary manslaughter

Michigan’s former governor and health director charged in Flint water crisis

DETROIT (Reuters) – Michigan’s former health director was charged Thursday with involuntary manslaughter as part of a years-long criminal investigation into the crisis surrounding lead contamination of the drinking water system serving the city of Flint.

Nick Lyon pleaded not guilty to the charges, which were linked to the deaths of nine people, at his arraignment in a Gennessee County court on Thursday, according to media reports.

Former Governor Rick Snyder and Howard Croft, Flint’s former public works director, were also arraigned, the reports said.

Michigan’s attorney general and a team of prosecutors are due to unveil the full findings of their investigation into the Flint water crisis later on Thursday morning.

Snyder was charged on Wednesday with two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty for his role in a debacle that afflicted the predominantly African-American city and became emblematic of racial inequality in the United States.

Flint’s troubles began in 2014 after the city switched its water supply to the Flint River from Lake Huron to cut costs. Corrosive river water caused lead to leach from pipes, tainting the drinking water and causing an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.

The contamination also prompted several lawsuits from parents who said their children were showing dangerously high blood levels of lead, which can cause development disorders. Lead can be toxic and children are especially vulnerable.

A civil settlement of more than $600 million was reached with victims of the water crisis in August 2020 and is awaiting court approval.

The date of the misdemeanor offense in charging documents filed against Snyder and posted online was listed as April 25, 2014, the day the city switched water systems. Each count carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The Detroit News has reported that as many as 10 people in all faced charges stemming from the water crisis, including some former members of Snyder’s administration.

Snyder, a Republican who has been out of office for two years, was governor when the city of some 100,000 residents was under the control of a state-appointed manager in 2014. He was succeeded by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.

The former Wayne County prosecutor appointed in 2016 to lead the state’s investigation of the matter said then that he was looking to determine whether any officials who signed off on the change in the water system had acted criminally.

On Wednesday, the office of the state attorney general, Dana Nessel, also a Democrat, said the findings of that inquiry would be announced at a news conference on Thursday, along with Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

Snyder has repeatedly apologized for the state’s poor handling of the crisis, but his lawyer, Brian Lennon, has said any prosecution of the former governor would be politically motivated.

“It is outrageous to think any criminal charges would be filed against Governor Snyder. Any charges would be meritless,” Lennon said in a statement the day before the case was filed.

Nessel’s office declined to comment on the case ahead of Thursday’s news conference.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta, Brendan O’Brien, Ben Klayman and Nathan Layne; additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

PG&E pleads guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in California wildfire

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pacific Gas & Electric pleaded guilty on Tuesday to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from a devastating 2018 wildfire in Northern California touched off by the utility company’s power lines.

The guilty plea, part of an agreement with prosecutors in Butte County, is intended to end all criminal proceedings against PG&E from the Camp Fire, which broke out on Nov. 8, 2018, and destroyed much of the town of Paradise.

Bill Johnson, the company’s chief executive officer, entered the plea during a hearing in Butte County Superior Court.

“I am here today on behalf of the 23,000 men and women of PG&E, to accept responsibility for the fire here that took so many lives and changed these communities forever,” Johnson said in a written statement.

The Camp Fire killed at least 84 people and destroyed some 18,000 buildings. It is considered the most destructive wildfire in California history.

PG&E’s plea deal was reached in March, ending a major roadblock for the utility to emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It came after the utility accepted tighter oversight and pledged billions of dollars to improve safety and help wildfire victims under an agreement with California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Under the agreement, PG&E would pay a maximum $3.5 million fine plus $500,000 in costs, and up to $15 million to provide water to residents after the fire destroyed the utility’s Miocene Canal.

Some fire victims are expected to receive payouts under PG&E’s bankruptcy reorganization plan.

PG&E and its utility unit filed for bankruptcy in January 2019, citing more than $30 billion in potential liabilities from California wildfires in 2017 and 2018 linked to its equipment.

The company previously reached $25.5 billion of settlements related to wildfires in 2015, 2017 and 2018, including $13.5 billion for victims and $12 billion for insurers, cities, counties and other public entities.

Under the settlement with Newsom, PG&E agreed to pay no shareholder dividends for three years, saving about $4 billion, and pursue a “rate-neutral” $7.5 billion financing package that would benefit rate payers.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Sandra Maler and Jonathan Oatis)

Former Boston College student charged over boyfriend’s suicide pleads not guilty

BOSTON (Reuters) – A former Boston College student pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of involuntary manslaughter stemming from what prosecutors said was her role in encouraging her boyfriend to commit suicide.

A lawyer for Inyoung You, 21, entered the plea on her behalf during a hearing in Suffolk County Superior Court after she returned from South Korea to face charges brought last month over the May 20 suicide of her college boyfriend, who leaped to his death from a parking garage hours before his graduation.

Prosecutors point to thousands of text messages that You exchanged with Alexander Urtula as evidence showing she was physically, verbally and psychologically abusive to the 22-year-old and told him to “go kill himself” and to “go die.”

“These text messages demonstrate the power dynamic of the relationship,” Assistant District Attorney Caitlin Grasso said in court.

Prosecutors say an investigation found that You used attempts and threats of self-harm to herself to control Urtula and isolate him from friends and family. They say she was also aware of his suicidal thoughts when she encouraged him to kill himself.

Urtula spent the night before his death with You in her dorm room, Grasso said.

After Urtula the next day texted her and his brother saying he was going to take his own life, You used her cellphone to track his location to a parking garage in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston and was on its roof when he jumped, Grasso said.

Earlier this week, You through a public relations firm released to the Boston Globe text messages she exchanged with Urtula the day of his death suggesting she tried to stop him and sought to have his brother intervene.

The allegations bore similarities to the high-profile Massachusetts case of Michelle Carter, who was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter and accused of goading her teenage boyfriend into committing suicide with text messages and phone calls.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld her conviction in February. Her lawyers call the case an “unprecedented” instance of someone being convicted involuntary manslaughter based on words alone and have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn it.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Greek prosecutors charge 20 over deadly wildfire in Mati

FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises in front of burnt houses in the village of Mati, near Athens, Greece, July 28, 2018. REUTERS/Costas Baltas -/File Photo

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek prosecutors charged 20 people, including a regional governor and two local mayors, over a wildfire that killed 100 people in the seaside town of Mati and nearby areas last July, a judicial source said on Tuesday.

Most of the victims couldn’t escape from a maze of poorly planned streets in Greece’s worst wildfire disaster. Authorities were accused of a slow response and lack of coordination in rescue operations.

The charges include involuntary manslaughter and causing bodily harm due to neglect, the source said. Prosecutors have drafted a 292-page report that details “a series of mistakes” in handling the disaster.

The accused include Rena Dourou, the governor of Attica region, which includes Mati; Elias Psinakis, mayor of Marathon; and Evangelos Bournous, mayor of Rafina and Pikermi, all towns in the region. The accused have denied any wrongdoing.

Greece’s judicial system has several preparatory stages and the compilation of charges does not necessarily mean that the individual will face trial. An investigating magistrate is now expected to take over and look into the case.

The government attributed the fire to arson and dismissed accusations that it failed to evacuate people in time, saying that unlicensed building had thrived under previous governments.

Mati, a heavily wooded area on the coast east of Athens overlooking the sea, was popular with pensioners and children at summer camps.

Other prosecutors are also investigating separate cases linked to the Mati fire, following citizen lawsuits.

(Reporting by Constantinos Georgizas, writing by Renee Maltezou, editing by Larry King)

Michigan to charge top medical official in Flint water deaths

A sign is seen next to a water dispenser at North Western High School in Flint, a city struggling with the effects of lead-poisoned drinking water in Michigan, May 4, 2016.

(Reuters) – Michigan’s top medical official will be charged with involuntary manslaughter for her role in the city of Flint’s water crisis, which was linked to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that caused at least 12 deaths, state prosecutors said on Monday.

Dr. Eden Wells, who already faced lesser charges, would become the sixth current or former official to face involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the crisis.

The state intends to add involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office to the other charges of obstruction of justice and lying to police that Wells already faces, a spokeswoman for Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said.

An attorney for Wells, the state’s chief medical executive, could not immediately be reached by Reuters but Jerold Lax, one of her attorneys, told the Detroit Free Press they only learned of the proposed additional charges at a pre-trial hearing on Monday.

The charges stem from more than 80 cases of Legionnaires’ disease that were believed to be linked to the water in Flint after the city switched its source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in April 2014.

Wells was among six current and former Michigan and Flint officials charged in June. The other five, including Michigan Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, were charged at the time with involuntary manslaughter stemming from their roles in handling the crisis.

Involuntary manslaughter is a felony that carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

In court documents, prosecutor had previously said Wells lied to police about when she became aware of the Legionnaires’ outbreak and that she threatened a team of independent researchers who were studying the source of the disease.

Special prosecutor Todd Flood said Monday he was seeking the new charges based on new review of documents and testimony that came out last week, the newspaper said.

The crisis in Flint erupted in 2015 when tests found high amounts of lead in blood samples taken from children in the predominantly black city of about 100,000.

The more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from pipes and into the drinking water. Lead levels in Flint’s drinking water have since fallen below levels considered dangerous by federal regulators, state officials have said.

 

(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Bill Trott)