In 2014, when the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, gained global news, Snyder was the governor of the state.
On Thursday, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in favor of former governor Rick Snyder, who was arrested on misdemeanor counts related to the Flint water debacle.
The state attorney general’s office has repeatedly argued in court that a historic ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court last summer did not truly kill the prosecution of those responsible for the water crisis in Flint. The prosecution, though, keeps losing money.
The appeals court in Snyder’s case essentially dismissed the state’s appeal in a single phrase.
During Snyder’s tenure as governor, in 2014, the state took over the water supply in Flint and switched the city over to utilizing water from the Flint River. This new supply of water, however, was not treated to lessen the strain on the city’s aging infrastructure, thus lead leaked out into the streets.
Two accusations of intentional neglect of duty were brought against Snyder, who resigned from office in 2019.
Indictments can’t be handed down by a grand jury with only one judge, as the state’s highest court ruled in June of last year. As a consequence, charges against Snyder, ex-health director Nick Lyon, and the other six defendants were dropped.
Yet the state’s attorney general’s office isn’t giving up. Currently, it has requested that the Supreme Court review Lyon’s case once more. Several of the deaths from Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint region during the water transition have been attributed to him.
The “overly aggressive prosecution” has created a “mess,” Lyon’s lawyers said in a recent court filing.