No criminal charges will be sought in connection with the carbon monoxide poisoning death of a 13-year-old at the Niles Quality Inn.

Bryan Douglas-Watts died after a

Eleven others were hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning following the incident.

On Thursday, Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic announced that no criminal charges will be filed in connection with Watts' death.

"Most crimes are a result of an intentional, knowing act," explains a media release from the prosecutor's office. "It is rare, but not unheard of, in the criminal law that an omission or failure to act results in a criminal charge.

"The prosecutor has reviewed the facts and the law with respect to the current owner, the owner in 2012 when the pool heater was replaced and the person replacing the pool heater and find that while ordinary negligence may have played a role in the death of Bryan Watts, the degree of negligence did not reach the definition of gross negligence. Therefore the prosecutor will not seek criminal charges. "

Paula Watts, Bryan's mom,

about losing her son, thanking everyone who has been supporting her through her loss.

Attorney Ven Johnson filed a lawsuit in May on behalf of Bryan's family and five other victims.

"We want everybody to realize how scary this is and how important this is so that we can get legislation, we would hope on a federal level," Johnson said. "I don't think it should be just a state to state level."

On Thursday Johnson said although they didn't get a criminal case, he believes they still have a fighting chance with the civil lawsuit.

"[Paula Watts] feels that somebody could or should be charged, but she accepts the process for that which it is and now the importance on our civil lawsuit now is magnitude," Johnson said. "It's even more important now because if we don't bring public awareness to this topic, then Bryan dies in vain and we're not going to let that happen."

Parent company Choice Hotels International and franchise owner Jayesh Patel are named in the lawsuit.

Johnson and State Senator Bieda are working on legislation to be sure carbon monoxide detectors are installed in new hotels with pools, but they want that expanded to all hotels and places with indoor pools.

The prosecutor said based on their actions, the hotel owner or the technician who replaced the pool heater in 2012 didn't know of the disconnected pipe and were not overtly reckless.

Check back soon for updates to this story.





From the office of the Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic:

Prosecutor Michael Sepic has announced that there will be no criminal charges sought in connection with the death of 13 year old Bryan Watts of Niles. Watts was with a group of friends swimming at the Quality Inn located at 1265 S. 11th Street in Niles on Saturday morning, April 1. It is likely that the cause of death was a result of a pool heater ventilation pipe disconnecting from the pool heater. This likely caused carbon monoxide to leak into an enclosed pool maintenance room. An exhaust system in the pool maintenance room vented out of the room and into the enclosed pool area.

Most crimes are a result of an intentional, knowing act. It is rare, but not unheard of, in the criminal law that an omission or failure to act results in a criminal charge. In order to determine if a criminal charge is warranted, various Michigan cases give us the following definitions:

• Manslaughter occurs where a death results “from negligence that is gross, wanton or willful, indicating a culpable indifference for the safety of others.”

• The legal definition of involuntary manslaughter is “the killing of another without malice and unintentionally, by the negligent omission to perform a legal duty.”

• Criminal negligence is also called gross negligence. It is something more than ordinary negligence.

• “Ordinary negligence is based on the fact that one ought to have known the results of his acts; while gross negligence rests on the assumption that he did know but was recklessly or wantonly indifferent to the results.” Determination of gross negligent is case dependent and based on a totality of the circumstances.

The prosecutor has reviewed the facts and the law with respect to the current owner, the owner in 2012 when the pool heater was replaced and the person replacing the pool heater and find that while ordinary negligence may have played a role in the death of Bryan Watts, the degree of negligence did not reach the definition of gross negligence. Therefore the prosecutor will not seek criminal charges. Obviously this decision has no impact on potential of civil liability.