The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without necessary delays, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against you. For former DHHS director Nick Lyon, a speedy trial is not something that has happened.
It has been over six years since Attorney General Bill Schuette started his investigation into the Flint water crisis and it is four years since former Nick Lyon was first indicted because of the Flint water crisis. To date, he does not know the evidence against him, he has barely had any court hearings, there is no court date set and up until recently, the State had not agreed to provide funding for his defense which the State is legally obligated to do since he was an employee of the State at the time of the charges, and he was acting on behalf of the State. To further complicate and confuse, the initial charges of the State issued by former Attorney General Bill Schuette were dropped by current AG Dana Nessel. She then reissued charges against Lyon in January of 2021 but has not provided Lyon and his legal team access to any evidence against him. In the meantime, over 20 State employed or contracted lawyers are working on the case against Nick Lyon and others. And if you are not confused completely, in settling the civil case for the State at $641 million, AG Dana Nessel’s Civil attorney’s had defended and cleared Director Lyon of any civil responsibility in Flint. Nick Lyon and others have had their sixth amendment rights violated on multiple accounts, but AG Nessel continues to push forward. As I have said many times, this case is a civil case which has already been settled. It has no business in a criminal court. If we start charging government leaders for decisions made in the course of the job that we did not like the outcome, our courts will be jammed beyond reason.
Per the NY Times tonight, the United States surpassed 700,000 deaths from the coronavirus on Friday, a milestone that few experts had anticipated months ago when vaccines became widely available to the American public. An overwhelming majority of Americans who have died in recent months, a period in which the country has offered broad access to shots, were unvaccinated. The United States has had one of the highest recent death rates of any country with an ample supply of vaccines. The new and alarming surge of deaths this summer means that the coronavirus pandemic has become the deadliest in American history, overtaking the toll from the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919, which killed about 675,000 people. Do you remember when Dr. Fauci indicated during the early phases of the pandemic that upwards to 140,000 people may die if we didn’t take serious action and he was told he was scaring the country and he needed to reissue his estimates to a lower number.?
On a positive note The drug maker Merck said on Friday that its pill to treat Covid-19 was shown in a key clinical trial to halve the risk of hospitalization or death when given to high-risk people early in their infections. The strong results suggest that a new wave of effective and easy-to-use treatments for Covid will gradually become available in the United States, though supply is likely to be limited at first. Merck said it would seek emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for its drug, known as molnupiravir, as soon as possible. The pills could be available by late this year.
Stay safe. Wash your hands regularly. Schedule your vaccine and booster. Wear your mask. Social distance.
Orchid of the Day: Merck-see above
Onion of the Day: AG Nessel for her continued violation of the sixth amendment rights of Nick Lyon and others
Quote of the Day: “It doesn’t matter whether it’s in six minutes, six days or six weeks.” President Biden about the importance of Democrats coming together on his proposed infrastructure bill.