Pharmacist blamed for deaths in US meningitis outbreak expected to plead no contest in Michigan case

2024-12-25 09:08:53 source:lotradecoin privacy category:News

HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — A Massachusetts pharmacist charged with murder in the deaths of 11 Michigan residents from a 2012 U.S. meningitis outbreak is expected to plead no contest Thursday to involuntary manslaughter.

Glenn Chin, 56, was to appear Thursday in a Livingston County, Michigan, courtroom. His trial had been scheduled for November, but has been scratched.

A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but is used as such at sentencing.

Chin’s plea deal calls for a 7 1/2-year prison sentence, with credit for his current longer sentence for federal crimes, Johanna Delp of the state attorney general’s office said in an email sent last week to families and obtained by The Associated Press.

Michigan is the only state to charge Chin and Barry Cadden, an executive at the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts, for deaths related to the outbreak.

More than 700 people in 20 states were sickened with fungal meningitis or other debilitating illnesses, and dozens died as a result of tainted steroids shipped to pain clinics, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

RELATED COVERAGE Democratic convention ends Thursday with the party’s new standard bearer, Kamala Harris Remains found on Michigan property confirmed to be from woman missing since 2021 Mall guard tells jurors he would not have joined confrontation that led to man’s death

The laboratory’s “clean room,” where steroids were prepared, was rife with mold, insects and cracks, investigators said. Chin supervised production.

He is currently serving a 10 1/2-year federal sentence for racketeering, fraud and other crimes connected to the outbreak, following a 2017 trial in Boston. Because of the credit for his federal sentence, Chin is unlikely to serve additional time in Michigan’s custody.

Cadden, 57, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in Michigan earlier this year and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Second-degree murder charges were dropped.

Cadden’s state sentence is running at the same time as his 14 1/2-year federal sentence, and he has been getting credit for time in custody since 2018.

More:News

Recommend

Google forges ahead with its next generation of AI technology while fending off a breakup threat

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google on Wednesday unleashed another wave of artificial intelligence designed

When does daylight saving time start? What is it? Here's when to 'spring forward' in 2024

In March, the clocks for millions of Americans will "spring forward," and we will lose an hour of sl

Step up? Done. Women dominate all aspects of the Grammys this year

LOS ANGELES – Most casual Grammy followers remember the audacious remark, but it took Phoebe Bridger