On Friday, the Michigan Attorney General’s office filed two motions in an attempt to get around a unanimous Michigan Supreme Court ruling and continue their political witch hunt in the Flint water criminal cases. A statement from Brian Lennon, Gov. Snyder’s legal counsel from Warner Norcross + Judd, is below:
Throughout this prosecution, SG Hammoud has shown a remarkable dexterity for missing the point. First it was her refusal to establish a taint team and her total disregard for the sacrosanct attorney-client privilege of Governor Snyder and all the other defendants. Now it’s a flawed reading of a unanimous decision by Michigan’s highest court. Indeed, a unanimous Supreme Court found that all the indictments she obtained are invalid, and specifically as to Director Lyon’s case, the Justices ordered that it be dismissed. How can the Genesee County courts simply convert invalid and illegally obtained indictments into valid complaints? What part of the word “dismissed” does she and Prosecutor Worthy refuse to understand? We look forward to responding to these ridiculous pleadings.
And since the prosecution appears to acknowledge the continued jurisdiction of the Genesee County Courts, we will be asking Circuit Judge F. Kay Behm to rule on our Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction and Venue, which has been pending for over a year, and District Judge William Crawford to require affidavits from the prosecution regarding its unsupported claim that the prosecution team never looked at any privileged materials, which we know is false.
This latest frivolous motion by SG Hammoud and Prosecutor Worthy is simply a desperate attempt to keep the prosecution alive past the November election. If this latest filing was sincere, one would have expected to see a large expenditure for a taint team in Attorney General Nessel’s recently-passed budget. The prosecution has told every court – including the Michigan Supreme Court, the Michigan Court of Appeals, Judge Kelly, Judge Crawford, and a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge – that a taint team will cost the Michigan taxpayers $30 Million dollars to accomplish. The expenditure for a taint team is nowhere to be found in next years’ budget.
We call on AG Nessel to follow the Supreme Court’s decision. Dismiss the indictments with prejudice, quit wasting taxpayer money, and redirect those resources to the people of Flint.