Court hears challenge to grand jury in Flint water cases

By ED WHITE
Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court has heard arguments that could wipe out charges against former Gov. Rick Snyder and eight others in the Flint water scandal. Defense lawyers are challenging a rarely used method to investigate crimes and file indictments. Snyder and others were indicted by a judge who served as a one-person grand jury in Genesee County. Evidence was offered in private by the attorney general’s office. People charged with felonies in Michigan typically have a right to a hearing where they can argue there’s not enough evidence to send a case to trial. But the one-person grand jury process doesn’t allow it. Defense lawyers claim it’s unconstitutional. Prosecutors say they’re simply following a method approved by the Legislature.