FLINT, MI -- Don’t look for a single individual to replace Todd Flood in the courtroom during future Flint water prosecutions.
A spokeswoman for Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud says a team of attorneys will work on cases together and determine who will handle each one in court -- a process that’s in development.
“As far as who will be the lead attorney in the cases, there won’t necessarily be one person anymore like there has been in the past ...,” said Carrie Rathbun-Hawks, a spokeswoman for the Flint water criminal prosecutions. “(Wayne County Prosecutor) Kym Worthy will be a part of that process but we are still early in our relationship with her.”
Last week, Hammoud and Attorney General Dana Nessel shook up the eight Flint water prosecutions still pending in Genesee district and circuit courts, announcing that the solicitor general and Worthy would jointly oversee the cases, while Todd Flood, who has become the public face of the prosecutions to date, will serve as a special assistant attorney general.
Flood has not exclusively -- but almost always -- made the prosecution’s case during preliminary examinations, in arguing motions, and in presenting plea deals to judges, since he was appointed to to oversee the Flint water criminal cases by former Attorney General Bill Schuette.
MLive-The Flint Journal could not reach Flood for comment on his changing role in the criminal cases on Monday, Feb. 25.
Monday had been scheduled as the restart date for the preliminary exams of former Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley and former Department of Public Works Director Howard Croft, but the cases were adjourned at Hammoud’s request, giving the new prosecution team time to become familiar with each of the eight pending criminal cases.
Appearing at a news conference with Nessel Feb. 21, Hammoud said, “It’s appropriate for us to look at the investigation and everything associated with it."
“We’re not throwing everything out and starting from zero ... but there is a new leadership. ...," she said. "We don’t just jump into a case and say, ‘All right, this is the file, and I trust that everybody did their due diligence’ ... It’s only appropriate that we evaluate that.”