Nessel’s Astonishing Defeat

June 28, 2022

Lansing, Mich., June 28, 2022 – In a unanimous decision, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled against the one-judge grand jury process utilized by Attorney General Dana Nessel to obtain indictments in the Flint Water Investigation. The Detroit News reports:

“In a unanimous decision, the high court found that a one-judge grand jury can be used to investigate, subpoena and issue arrest warrants but it cannot be used to indict an individual. The justices found that the Genesee County Circuit Court erred in denying a motion to dismiss former state health Director Nick Lyon’s case.”

During oral arguments, the defense presented questions over the secretive process by which a single judge was empowered to review the evidence and authorize charges against individuals without the ability of defendants to review the evidence presented against them.

The ruling is a stunning indictment of Dana Nessel’s handling of the case after she had criticized the handling of the investigation by her predecessor during her 2018 campaign. In a concurring opinion, State Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein blisters the process taken by Attorney General Nessel, writing:

“Today, this Court recognizes what we have always known to be true: procedure matters… 

However, the Attorney General has invoked obscure statutes…to deprive these defendants of their statutory right to a preliminary examination. …

I do not believe we can tolerate such a procedural offense.”

The loss for the prosecution comes three years after Nessel took over the Flint water crisis lawsuits. The process has been marred by failure after failure. Mistakes and questionable decision-making have highlighted Nessel’s leadership of the investigation and resulted in zero progress, despite millions of taxpayer dollars being spent on the effort.

Previous missteps in the investigation include:

• Nessel’s hiring of Christopher Kessel to lead work on the case with an hourly contract before being hired as a full-time state employee. Kessel was previously Nessel’s business partner and a donor to her campaign. Nessel had previously criticized the use of contract work on the case. 
• Nessel’s prosecution illegally accessed privileged communication of the defendants despite being warned by multiple state employees. A judge has ruled that state prosecutors must use a taint team to persevere defendants’ rights. Nessel has sought to overturn that decision, and her office’s mistake could cost $48 million and take over three years.
• Upon taking office, Nessel fired the special prosecutor handling the case, and dismissed the original charges.

“Dana Nessel’s politically motivated prosecutions have stumbled over their own missteps and tumbled head first into a brick wall at the Michigan Supreme Court,” said Eric Ventimiglia, Executive Director for Michigan Rising Action. Ventimiglia continued, “ Michiganders deserve a fair and transparent legal system, and today’s ruling has held that not even Michigan’s top law enforcement officer is above the law.”