By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


Appeals have been denied in the murder case against two men charged in Livingston County for their roles in a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.

Attorneys for Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin filed motions in January to reverse earlier rulings against their clients that they should stand trial on 11 counts of second degree murder.

Last week, Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Michael Gadola denied both in a one-sentence opinion that cited a "failure to persuade the court of the need for immediate appellate review." 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.

Chin’s attorneys claim the murder charges are not warranted as the evidence supports this being a case of product liability. Cadden’s attorney, Gerald Gleeson, filed a similar motion and told WHMI that they are now reviewing their options with regard to a potential appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.

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.