FLINT, MI-- Criminal charges against two of the three remaining Flint water crisis cases were dismissed Wednesday, Dec. 18.
Judge David Goggins dismissed charges against Steven Busch and Michael Prysby, two former state environmental officials, after reviewing their cases. The two former officials worked for Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and had oversight responsibility for Flint’s water system after it began using the Flint River as its water source in 2014 and 2015.
Both men took plea deals with former special prosecutor Todd Flood a year ago, pleading no contest to misdemeanors that were to be reviewed and potentially dismissed a year later.
Molly Kettler, special assistant to the attorney general, said the men will have no lasting legal consequences because of the plea deals made by the former prosecution team. Kettler was assigned by Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud to replace the former prosecution team led by Flood and to hold government officials accountable for Flint’s water crisis.
“I must say, in all candor to the court and to everyone here, in well over 25 years of practicing law I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kettler said. “These pleas were taken when the prior prosecuting authority brought the defendants here to court the day after Christmas without making any announcements so the victims could be here or so that the public was aware of it.”
After Flood was fired as special prosecutor by Hammoud, pending criminal cases against eight defendants were dismissed and the unresolved plea agreements with Busch, Prysby and another DEQ official -- Liane Shekter-Smith -- were left in limbo.
“As we move forward from today, these defendants will be required to continue to cooperate," Kettler said. "What I hope and pray everyone will take away from this today is that this is not the end for the citizens of the city of Flint.”
As part of their agreement, Busch and Prysby are required to cooperate with Kettler’s team by providing truthful testimony in future proceedings. Kettler said her team has already taken more than 35 hours of interviews with the two former officials.
“This is something that should have been done prior to giving pleas. There were no formal proffers taken before the pleas were offered,” Kettler said. “Therefore there were no real or meaningful opportunities for anyone before to really legitimately evaluate the value of what these witnesses had to offer and what a commensurate plea for them would be. That being said, we’ve moved ahead to do our due diligence and we’re prepared to proceed with requiring their truthful testimony in future proceedings.”
Prysby, a district engineer, pleaded no contest to violating the Safe Drinking Water Act. Busch and Shekter-Smith, who is scheduled to return to court for a review in January, pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace in a public building.
The pain residents in Flint are experiencing is “life-long and generational,” Kettler said.
“They will live with this for the rest of their lives. We acknowledge that pain and suffering are compounded by the feeling of being betrayed by their government,” Kettler said. “We will work tirelessly, day, night and weekends, to not only fully investigate and prosecute all of those with culpability for this crisis but also to rebuild the trust of the citizens.”
After dismissing the remaining criminal charges against eight Flint water defendants because of what she described as serious flaws in the cases, Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said earlier this year they were renewing their investigation of crimes related to the Flint water crisis.
The solicitor general hasn’t publicly spoken about that investigation since a town hall meeting in Flint in June.