Closing arguments get underway as a judge has to decide if the state health director Nick Lyon will stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Flint water emergency.
Lyon is also charged with misconduct and wilful neglect.
A special team formed by Attorney General Bill Schuette charges Lyon with failing to notify the public in a timely manner about the danger of Legionella bacteria in the drinking water after Flint changed the source of it’s water in 2014. Gov. Snyder did not warn the public about a Legionnaire’s outbreak until January of 2016. By then, a number of people in Genesee County had gotten sick, and at least two of them died. Flint District Judge David Goggins is expected to rule later this month whether Lyon will stand trial.
Michigan chief medical executive Dr. Eden Wells also is charged. A decision on a trial is scheduled for August. 12 other state and former Flint officials have been charged. Several have pleaded guilty.
