By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A motion has been denied to drop the charges against one of the two men charged with the deaths of 11 Livingston County residents.

Barry Cadden is facing trial in Livingston County Circuit Court on second degree murder charges filed last year by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office for his role in running the New England Compounding Center. Cadden was the co-owner of the facility, while his co-defendant, Glenn Chin, was the supervising pharmacist.

In court today, Cadden’s attorney argued that there was no evidence that directly linked his client to the tainted steroids produced at the pharmacy, which ultimately led to over 100 deaths nationally, 11 of them in Livingston County. He argued that Cadden was never in the pharmacy’s so-called “clean room”, where the drugs were manufactured, and had no way of knowing what went on there. The attorney, Gerald Gleeson, argued that Judge Michael Hatty should quash the bindover made in August by 53rd District Court Judge Shauna Murphy, who determined there was enough evidence to send the case to trial.

Assistant Attorney General Denise Hart countered that Cadden was "100 per cent involved” and was the one responsible for shipping out steroids which had not been tested.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Judge Hatty ruled that the bindover for trial would stand, saying that the material facts of the case need to be decided by a jury. A similar motion by Chin is set to heard next week.