SG Hammoud Responds to MSC Ruling in Flint Criminal Cases

LANSING ? Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud released the following statement related to today?s ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court:?

?The Citizens of Flint should know that these cases are not over. Public commentary to the contrary is presumptive and rash. Our reading is that the Court?s opinion interprets the one-man grand jury process to require charges to be filed at the district court and include a preliminary examination. Our team is prepared to move forward through that process. We relied upon settled law and the well-established prosecutorial tool of the one-man grand jury, used for decades, to bring forward charges against the nine defendants in the Flint water crisis. We still believe these charges can and will be proven in court. ?

?Furthermore, as Justice Bernstein noted, ?If the allegations can be proved, it is impossible to fully state the magnitude of the damage state actors have caused to an innocent group of people?a group of people that they were entrusted to serve. The Flint water crisis stands as one of this country?s greatest betrayals of citizens by their government.??

?We are prepared and determined to prove the allegations against the defendants in court and are committed to seeing this process through to its conclusion.??

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