FLINT, Mich. – Seven years of legal wrangling over the Flint water crisis had resulted in all cases being dismissed.
The final case, against former Gov. Rick Snyder, closed Tuesday, Oct. 31. After being originally dismissed, the Attorney General’s office appealed and lost.
After the City of Flint went off the Detroit water system in 2014 and attempted its own water authority, it failed to put the correct anti-corrosive chemicals in the water which resulted in lead seeping into the water. Then AG Bill Schuette started an investigation, but all his team’s work was broomed when Dana Nessel became Attorney General.
Nessel appointed Deputy AG Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to helm a Flint prosecution team. They charged Snyder, top aides and others by using a one-man grand jury. In a unanimous decision, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that was not acceptable under the law. The cases were all dismissed, they appealed and were unsuccessful.
Snyder’s case was the last to close. The former governor chalked up the charges against him and others as political persecution. The state has spent $60 million trying to convict anybody in connection with Flint and failed.