Judge severs trials in fatal meningitis outbreak case

Rachael Perry

By: The Associated Press

news@abc6.com

BOSTON, M.A. – A federal judge has ruled that two men facing multiple murder charges in connection with a national meningitis outbreak in 2012 that killed 64 people will be tried separately.              

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns said in his decision that he severed the trials of Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin “reluctantly” because their lawyers plan different defenses and because of an imbalance of evidence.              

Cadden was the co-founder of the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, while Chin was the now-closed business’ supervisory pharmacist.              

They are charged in a racketeering indictment with causing the deaths of 25 patients in seven states. Both have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.              

The judge scheduled Cadden’s trial to start Jan. 4, with Chin’s trial to start immediately after.

©WLNE-TV / ABC6 2016

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