By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


The local case against two men charged in Livingston County with murder for their roles in a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak is on hold while they appeal.

Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hatty last week agreed to stay proceedings against Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin until September while their attorneys pursue an appeal with the Michigan Supreme Court. Cadden was a part-owner and Chin was a supervising pharmacist at the New England Compounding Center.

Authorities say lax conditions infected steroids produced there that led to the 2012 outbreak which killed more than 100 people nationwide and sickened nearly a thousand others. Investigators connected the compounding pharmacy to Michigan clinics, including Michigan Pain Specialists in Genoa Township, which had dispensed the NECC contaminated steroids. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled earlier this year against claims by attorneys for both men that the murder charges are not warranted, prompting an effort to file with the Michigan Supreme Court to intervene.

Cadden and Chin, who remain held in the Livingston County Jail, have already been convicted on federal racketeering and conspiracy charges and are serving nine and eight-year prison sentences respectively.

Judge Hatty set a September 24th status conference in the case pending a ruling from the state’s highest court.