(This story has been updated with comment from Attorney General Dana Nessel.)
FLINT, MI -- Flint water prosecutors will either have to act quickly or forget about charging anyone with misconduct in office by a public officer in relation to the city’s water crisis.
Despite a looming April 25 deadline to file felony misconduct charges, Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy said in a statement Friday, April 17, that their overall investigation remains “on track and we are delivering on our commitment to the people of Flint.”
MLive-The Flint Journal could not immediately reach a spokeswoman for Hammoud and Worthy for comment on whether they intend to file misconduct charges before that deadline or whether the investigation will continue with the potential for other charges like involuntary manslaughter or obstruction of justice instead.
“April 25, 2014, is a significant date in the history of the Flint water crisis. However, we want to correct the misconception that April 25, 2020 is the deadline to bring charges against those who may be criminally liable,” the joint statement says. “Criminal statutes of limitations vary depending on the offense and the date of the alleged criminal act.”
Flint’s water source was changed to the Flint River on April 25, 2014, while the city was being run by state-appointed emergency financial managers. The water was never treated to make it less corrosive, causing damage to pipes and plumbing throughout the city and allowing lead to leech into drinking water.
In addition to elevated levels of lead in Flint’s water, the switch in water sources also coincided with outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease here.
Fifteen current and former city and state officials were charged with crimes related to the water crisis, and some, like former state Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, faced the misconduct charge before Attorney General Dana Nessel replaced former special prosecutor Todd Flood with Hammoud in January 2019.
Hammoud announced in June 2019 that all charges against eight remaining defendants who had not accepted plea deals would be dismissed, accusing Flood of having failed to properly review millions of documents that could have lead to additional or reduced charges.
At a town hall meeting here in June, the solicitor general said she and Worthy were restarting their own investigation but needed to move quickly to avoid problems with the six-year statute of limitations for misconduct.
“As we approach six years since the water switch in Flint, we must remember the ongoing struggle of the people of Flint, and their resiliency in the face of a man-made disaster that will span generations. But they did not volunteer to serve as a cautionary tale of government gone wrong," the statement from Hammoud and Worthy says. "This fate was imposed on them by a series of actions and inactions that created the historic injustice of the Flint water crisis.
“From the outset, our team committed to a complete investigation ... using all investigative means at our disposal. We committed to professional prosecution of anyone criminally responsible for this man-made crisis and the resulting death, injury and trauma experienced by the people of Flint. Despite the challenges posed to our state by the COVID-19 pandemic, the current state of emergency will not prevent us from pursuing justice,” the statement says.
Two state legislators from Flint had hoped to extend the statute of limitations by introducing bills last year that would have would have extended the statute of limitations for misconduct to 10 years, and Nessel said she supported that change.
But the bills never passed and the COVID-19 emergency has prevented the Michigan Senate and House of Representatives from even meeting to continue consideration of them.
State Rep. John Cherry, D-Flint, introduced one of the bills, which received a committee hearing but was never up for a vote in the House.
“I know I had support from Democrats but I don’t think we had support from Republicans,” Cherry said last week.
Cherry said he hasn’t been contacted by state prosecutors about their plans with the current investigation.
“The current prosecution team in the Attorney General’s Office ... they take very seriously the concept of confidentiality,” he said. “They do not really communicate what they are going to do until it happens.”
State Sen. Jim Ananich, the Senate minority leader, said he’s also been given no update on the investigation.
“The quiet made me nervous but it’s probably the way an investigation should be,” Ananich said. “I get the impression they are operating a serious investigation.”
Nessel, who separated herself from the criminal water crisis investigation to focus exclusively on the resolution of the civil water cases, issued a statement Friday, saying Hammoud and Worthy “have built their on pursuing and delivering justice to the victims and communities that they have served.”
“Like the people of Flint, I’m glad to know that their investigation has not been – and will not be – impeded by time or this current public health crisis,” the attorney general’s statement says. "It comes as no surprise to me, though, that their commitment to the people of Flint is as strong today as it was the day they took up this important cause. The people of Flint, like myself, are fortunate to have Fadwa and Kym working on their behalf.”
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