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Michigan Supreme Court voids indictments against former state officials related to Flint water crisis | CNN
The indictments against former top Michigan state officials for their alleged culpability in the Flint water crisis were deemed invalid Tuesday.
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(CNN)The indictments against former top Michigan state officials for their alleged culpability in the Flint water crisis were deemed invalid Tuesday.
A panel of Michigan Supreme Court judges said that prosecutors in Attorney General Dana Nessel's office made a procedural error when a Genesee County Circuit Court judge serving as a one-man grand jury handed down indictments for nine former state officials last year including former Gov. Rick Snyder. The judges called the action "alarming."
Michigan state laws do not authorize a judge to issue indictments as a one-man grand jury without a preliminary examination, which was not done in this case, the Supreme Court ruled.
In Michigan, a preliminary examination is used by prosecutors and defense attorneys to present evidence and testimony prior to an indictment.
Three former state officials appealed on the matter, eventually bringing the issue to the state Supreme Court.
Snyder was not one of them. The former governor's legal team will motion to have the charges against the governor dismissed based on the opinion, according to a statement from Snyder's legal team.
CNN has reached out to Snyder's office for comment. Snyder's legal counsel previously told CNN that his client was being made into a scapegoat by a politically driven special counsel.
