Nearly four years after the shroud of the coronavirus fell upon Holyoke and the then-Soldiers’ Home, its final legal drama has apparently concluded. The only two people to face criminal charges from the outbreak changed their pleas, essentially throwing themselves upon the mercy of the court. A judge obliged.
A tome’s worth of pages will have turned before Massachusetts and its West in particular, truly moves on from the tragedy of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. Lawsuits, bill-signings and administrative reshufflings have marked transitions thus far as openings will in the future. Still, the groundbreaking
In a 5-2 ruling, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reinstated criminal charges arising from the COVID-19 outbreak that killed 76 veterans at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. Former Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former medical director David Clinton were the only officials to face such charges. Hampden County Superior Court Judge Edward McDonough, Jr. dismissed the indictment in 2021 prompting the appeal.
BOSTON—On the eve of Governor Charlie Baker’s last day as governor—and Attorney General Maura Healey’s first—the Supreme Judicial Court considered an appeal in the waning litigation from the COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. The indictments reflect one of the Baker administration’s darkest hours.
The legal drama around the criminal indictments arising from the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home COVID-19 outbreak has flown under the radar since the appeal began. The case, however, jolted a bit in public view again as Healey’s office sought direct review from the Supreme Judicial Court.
Just over two years since the coronavirus ripped its way through Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, the herd of legal action underway has begun to thin. Last week, families of the 76 veterans who contracted COVID-19 during the deadly March 2020 outbreak settled with the commonwealth for $56 million.
The Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General released its long-awaited report on Bennett Walsh’s Superintendency of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. Unlike prior government reports, this review did not focus on the events during the Home’s coronavirus outbreak early in the pandemic.
The commonwealth’s case against two administrators at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home is not over, yet. On Tuesday, Attorney General Maura Healey’s office announced that she would appeal a pre-Thanksgiving ruling that dismissed charges against former Bennett Walsh and Dr. David Clinton.
The saga at the Holyoke Soldier’s Home took another sharp turn Monday after the indictment against the facility’s former superintendent and medical director disintegrated. Hampden County Superior Court Judge Edward McDonough, Jr. granted former Soldiers’ Home super Bennett Walsh and Dr. David Clinton’s motions to dismiss the indictments against them.
On the heels of a devastating Boston Globe report about Governor Charlie Baker and Health & Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders and the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, a legislative panel is weighing in. Like previous investigators, the Special Joint Oversight Committee on the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke COVID-19 Outbreak lays into former Superintendent Bennett Walsh. Beyond him, the target of blame is oblique on an individual level.