Skip to main content
Snow icon
33º

Michigan Supreme Court says indictments invalid in Flint water scandal

FILE - Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder delivers his State of the State address at the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on Jan. 23, 2018. A year after unprecedented charges against the former governor, the Flint water prosecution of Snyder and eight others is moving slowly, bogged down by disputes over millions of documents and even whether some cases were filed in the proper court. (AP Photo/Al Goldis, File) (Al Goldis, Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

DETROIT – A judge had no authority to issue indictments in the Flint water scandal, the Michigan Supreme Court said Tuesday, wiping out charges against former Gov. Rick Snyder, his health director and seven other people.

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.

Recommended Videos



The Supreme Court said Michigan law doesn’t allow judges who serve as a one-person grand jury to issue charges.

Read the entire MSC ruling below.