DETROIT (AP) 鈥� Lawyers for former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder urged a judge Tuesday to dismiss related to the Flint water crisis, a week after another judge with seven other former officials.
Snyder wasn't covered by Judge Elizabeth Kelly's decision because she was overseeing felony charges against the seven. But his legal team said the 鈥渟ame law and logic鈥� must be applied, especially after the Michigan Supreme Court said the indictments were invalid.
鈥淭his court should reach the same conclusion,鈥� attorney Gaetan Gerville-Reache said in a filing.
Snyder's next hearing with Judge F. Kay Behm is set for Oct. 26. He is charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty.
In 2014, Flint managers appointed by Snyder took the city out of a regional water system and while a new pipeline to Lake Huron was being built. But the river water wasn鈥檛 treated to reduce its corrosive qualities. Lead broke off from old pipes and contaminated the system for more than a year.
Snyder and eight others, including his administration's two senior health officials, were indicted by a one-judge grand jury, an unusual, secretive way to get criminal charges in Michigan. The Supreme Court, however, said in June that a throwing the investigation of the water scandal into disarray.
Kelly rejected to simply send the cases to Flint District Court and turn them into common criminal complaints. Prosecutors are trying to do the same in Snyder's case 鈥� a 鈥渕agical conversion,鈥� Gerville-Reache said.
It's possible that prosecutors could start from scratch and file charges again, though a six-year statute of limitations could be a hurdle with Snyder and others.
Flint in 2015 returned to a water system based in southeastern Michigan. Roughly 10,100 lead or steel water lines had been replaced at homes by December 2021.
The city had 100,000 residents in 2010, but the population fell roughly 20% to 81,000 by the 2020 census following the water crisis, according to the government.
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Ed White, The Associated Press
