LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel wants to replace Flint criminal prosecutor Todd Flood and to settle the civil lawsuits arising from the Flint drinking water crisis, she said Friday.

Nessel said she hopes to replace Flood, who was appointed by Nessel's predecessor, Bill Schuette, with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

Nessel said in an interview she also wants to settle the civil lawsuits brought against the state in connection with the contamination of Flint's drinking water supply in 2014, while the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager.

Worthy has not yet agreed to take on the criminal cases, Nessel said.

“I have total confidence in Prosecutor Worthy and her office,” said Nessel, “and there is no one whose opinion I value more when it comes to the complexity and importance of these cases. We are hoping to have a response from Prosecutor Worthy regarding acceptance of these cases soon.”

Flood had no immediate comment Friday.

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Worthy's office issued a statement saying it will conduct an "independent evaluation of the Flint water criminal cases," as requested by Nessel, and "a decision will be made at a later time addressing what entity will continue these prosecutions."

The statement said it is "important to remember that there is a lot of material to review as these investigations are almost three years old."

Under Schuette, a Republican, criminal charges were brought against 15 current or former state and city employees, with charges ranging from misdemeanors to involuntary manslaughter — a 15-year felony.

To date, six defendants have pleaded "no contest" to misdemeanors and agreed to cooperate with Flood, on the understanding that other, more serious charges will be dismissed and even the misdemeanor counts will not be part of their records if they fulfill the terms of their plea agreements.

Nessel was critical of the Flint prosecutions during her 2018 election campaign, referring to them as "politically charged show trials."

"I was obviously a critic on the campaign trail about how those cases were handled," Nessel said in an interview. "It was very important to me that these cases be handled by career prosecutors, who didn’t have any sort of partisanship or political biases and who could evaluate these cases on three factors: the facts, the evidence and the law, end of story."

Nessel said she wants to make the change in prosecutor as "a way to ensure that the cases are handled properly and that we know that everyone who needs to be charged can be charged and those who have been charged have been properly charged and that the cases are meritorious.."

She said: "We’ll be proceeding on these cases very likely, but the manner that we do it, we’re still having those discussions."

Preliminary exams in the Flint cases are scheduled to resume Monday and no adjournments had been recorded on the court docket as of late Friday afternoon.

Nessel wouldn't say whether any of the criminal charges might be dismissed.

"Really can’t say that right now," she said. "What I’m trying to do is keep myself conflict-free. I don’t want to be in a position where I’m personally compromised on the criminal cases or the civil cases. So I’m only going to be on one side or the other."



On the civil lawsuits filed in connection with the Flint water crisis, "I would like to see those settled," Nessel said.

"I would like to make certain that the residents of Flint who have been harmed are indemnified," Nessel said, adding that she would have to work with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to see what her wishes are.

"But it’s my feeling that Gov. Whitmer cares deeply and wants to make certain they receive as much help as possible," she said.

The state and its officials are defendants in dozens of Flint-related civil lawsuits in both state and federal court.

"When you have this situation, millions and millions of dollars are going toward legal fees, and many of these are private law firms," Nessel said. "That’s all money that instead of going to law firms could go to actually help people."

Nessel said she plans to open an Attorney General's Office in Flint, one of several branch offices she plans to open around the state.

"When I open a Flint office, it will be the first time that I’m aware of that we’ve had an AG’s office in Flint and of course we need to do that," Nessel said.

"We need to have a presence there. I want people who live in Flint to feel that they have a state government who cares about them.

"We have to focus on Flint and remember that they’re still hurting and will be hurting for a very long time to come."

State Rep. Sheldon Neeley, D-Flint, said he welcomes Nessel's move to replace the Flint prosecutor, as well as her other comments about Flint.

“The people of Flint undoubtedly suffered enough at the hands of the previous administration; it is refreshing to have an attorney general take such serious and immediate action to ensure the Flint community receives the support and resources they deserve," Neeley said in a news release.



Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.