Grand jury testimony, exhibits key to failed Flint water prosecution kept under seal

Citing exemptions allowing for non-disclosure of information of an "advisory nature," Nessel’s office redacted key portions of a 2019 report summarizing the status of the Flint water prosecution before her office upended prior efforts under Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette. A request to her office seeking emails among the lead prosecutors on the case carried a $2,200 price tag.

A similar, but smaller request submitted to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, where Prosecutor Kym Worthy was asked to help with the Flint case, took several weeks to process before the office issued a $400 bill.

The Detroit News is working with both Nessel’s office and the Wayne County prosecutor's office to lower the cost.

At the official closure of the Flint case last year, Nessel’s office said her Flint prosecution team would release a full report in 2024 on its prosecutorial efforts. The report is still expected to be released later this year and a spokesman said the office's intent is "to share as much as is legally possible."

“On this difficult anniversary, we remember the lives lost, and honor those forever changed by the Flint water crisis," Nessel said in a statement Wednesday. "We remain haunted by the unprecedented Michigan Supreme Court decision that ended our criminal prosecutions against the government actors we charged as responsible for the man-made crisis, and we hope the funds from the historic civil settlement reach victims in the city as soon as possible."

Grand jury documents

Charges in the Flint water prosecution date back to Schuette, whose office leveled charges against several individuals related to the crisis during his time in office.

Schuette's office reached misdemeanor plea deals with some defendants and, in other cases, saw the more serious felony cases bound over for trial to circuit court. His prosecution team, led by lawyer Todd Flood, said their work wasn’t done and that more charges were possible.

When Nessel replaced Schuette in 2019, she appointed Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud and Worthy to lead a review of the case. Nessel at one time worked in the Wayne County Prosecutor's office.

Hammoud and Worthy fired Flood and his team from the prosecution and, in June 2019, announced they would dismiss the cases already brought and restart the investigation and prosecution from scratch.

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