Glenn Chin: Agreement in Michigan case – NBC Boston

A Massachusetts pharmacist accused of murdering 11 Michigan residents who died during a meningitis epidemic in the U.S. in 2012 has agreed to plead not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, according to an email to the defendants' families obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

Glenn Chin's deal calls for a prison sentence of seven and a half years, with credit for his current, longer sentence for federal crimes, Johanna Delp of the state Attorney General's Office said in the email.

She said Chin will appear in Livingston County court next Thursday. A trial scheduled for November is canceled.

Michigan is the only state to charge Chin and Barry Cadden, an executive at the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts, with deaths related to the outbreak.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 700 people in 20 states have contracted fungal meningitis or other serious illnesses, and dozens have died as a result of contaminated steroids supplied to pain clinics.

The lab's “clean room” where the steroids were made was riddled with mold, bugs and cracks, investigators said. Chin oversaw production.

He is currently serving a 10 1/2-year sentence in federal court for organized crime, fraud and other crimes related to the outbreak, stemming from a 2017 trial in Boston. Because he will receive credit for his sentence in federal court, Chin is unlikely to have to serve additional time in Michigan's custody.

“I am truly sorry that this happened,” Chin, now 56, said outside the court in Boston.

A phone message and emails seeking comment from Chin's attorney were not immediately returned Friday.

Cadden, 57, pleaded no contest in Michigan earlier this year and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The second-degree murder charge was dropped.

Cadden's state sentence will run concurrently with his 14 ½-year sentence in federal court, and he will receive credit for time served since 2018.