FLINT, MI -- Attorney General Dana Nessel wants Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy to take over prosecution of nine pending criminal cases related to the Flint water crisis.
Worthy, who was part of Nessel’s transition team, has been asked to replace Todd Flood as special prosecutor.
“We are hoping to have a response from Prosecutor Worthy regarding acceptance of these cases soon,” the attorney general said in a statement issued Friday, Jan. 4.
“I have total confidence in Prosecutor Worthy and her office,” Nessel said in a news release issued by her office, “and there is no one whose opinion I value more when it comes to the complexity and importance of these cases.”
Flood’s future as special prosecutor has been in question since Nessel’s election as attorney general.
During the campaign, she was critical of the approach to Flint water criminal cases, calling the prosecutions “politically charged show trials.”
Flood, a private practice lawyer handling both criminal and civil cases, is a former Wayne County assistant prosecutor.
Charges tied to the water crisis are pending against nine current and former state of Michigan and city of Flint employees. Six other cases have been resolved with plea agreements that have resulted in no jail time or fines for those charged.