Flint water charges tossed against former Mich. governor, others

DETROIT — The Michigan Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out charges against former Gov. Rick Snyder and others in the Flint water scandal, saying a judge sitting as a one-person grand jury had no power to issue indictments under rarely used state laws.

It’s an astonishing defeat for Attorney General Dana Nessel, who took office in 2019, got rid of a special prosecutor and put together a new team to investigate whether crimes were committed when lead contaminated Flint’s water system in 2014-15.

State laws “authorize a judge to investigate, subpoena witnesses, and issue arrest warrants” as a grand juror, the Supreme Court said. “But they do not authorize the judge to issue indictments,” the court said in a 6-0 opinion written by Chief Justice Bridget McCormack.

The challenge was filed by lawyers for former health director Nick Lyon, but the decision also applies to Snyder and others who were indicted. The cases now will return to Genesee County court with requests for dismissal.

Snyder’s legal team called the court’s opinion “unequivocal and scathing.”

“These prosecutions of Gov. Snyder and the other defendants were never about seeking justice for the citizens of Flint,” Snyder’s lawyers said. “Rather, Attorney General Nessel and her political appointee Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud staged a self-interested, vindictive, wasteful and politically motivated prosecution.”

Hammoud, however, released a statement, insisting the cases weren’t over, based on her interpretation of the opinion.

The saga began in 2014 when Flint managers appointed by Snyder dropped out of a regional water system and began using the Flint River to save money while a new pipeline to Lake Huron was under construction. State regulators insisted the river water didn’t need to be treated, but lead from old pipes flowed for 18 months in the majority-Black city.

The Michigan Civil Rights Commission said it was the result of systemic racism, doubting that the water switch and the brush-off of complaints would have occurred in a white, prosperous community.

Snyder has acknowledged that his administration failed in Flint.