Criminal Charges Against Top Officials At Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Reinstated

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reinstated criminal charges against two former top officials at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home on Thursday, reversing a lower court’s decision to dismiss the charges.

Bennett Walsh, the former superintendent of the home, and Dr. David Clinton, the former medical director, were indicted in 2020 on charges of elder neglect and permitting bodily injury. The charges stemmed from the deaths of 76 veterans at the home during a COVID-19 outbreak in 2020.

A Superior Court judge dismissed the charges in November 2021, ruling that the state had not presented enough evidence to prove that Walsh and Clinton had committed a crime. But the state Attorney General’s office appealed the decision, and the Supreme Judicial Court agreed to hear the case.

In a 5-2 decision, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the lower court had erred in dismissing the charges. The court found that the state had presented enough evidence to show that Walsh and Clinton had “recklessly disregarded” the safety of the veterans at the home.

The case is now scheduled to go to trial in Hampden Superior Court. Walsh and Clinton have denied any wrongdoing.