FLINT, Mich. (AP) - The Latest in a criminal case against Michigan’s health director, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter in a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak during the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint (all times local):
___
6 p.m.
A senior member of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration has been challenged in court about why he didn’t speak up sooner about an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint area.
A judge is holding a multiday hearing to determine if Michigan health director Nick Lyon should stand trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office. He’s accused of failing to inform the public in a timely manner about a Legionnaires’ outbreak in 2014-15.
Lyon’s lawyer, Larry Willey, tried to turn the tables Wednesday during cross-examination of Harvey Hollins, who is the governor’s urban affairs adviser. There’s no dispute that Hollins was told in a March 2015 email about Legionnaires’ in the Flint area possibly being tied to poor water quality.
Hollins says he didn’t share that information.
___
1:25 p.m.
An urban affairs adviser to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says the governor asked the health department for more information when he informed him in 2015 about a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in the Flint area.
Harvey Hollins testified in court Wednesday during a hearing that will determine whether Snyder’s health director, Nick Lyon, will face trial on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Lyon is accused of committing a crime by failing to timely inform the public about the Legionnaires’ outbreak during Flint’s lead-tainted water crisis.
It’s Hollins second day of testimony after first appearing on Oct. 6. He says he told Snyder about Legionnaires’ on Dec. 24, 2015.
Snyder has said he didn’t know about it until a few weeks later. Hollins leads the governor’s office on urban initiatives.
___
11:09 a.m.
Testimony is resuming in a criminal case against Michigan’s health director, who is accused of keeping the public in the dark about Legionnaires’ disease during the Flint water disaster.
Nick Lyon is charged with involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office. A judge must decide whether there is enough evidence to send him to trial. The case picks up again Wednesday.
Judge David Goggins hasn’t heard testimony since Oct. 6. That’s when urban affairs adviser Harvey Hollins said he told Gov. Rick Snyder about a Legionnaires’ outbreak a few weeks before the governor made it public in January 2016.
Hollins’ testimony contradicts what Snyder has said publicly. Nonetheless, the governor is sticking to his timeline.
Lawyers for Lyon say it’s all irrelevant in the case against him.
___
This story has been changed to correct the spelling of Nick Lyon’s name in the last paragraph. It had been misspelled Lyons.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.