A lab chiefs sentencing for meningitis deaths is postponed, extending grief of victims families | KLRT [Video]

HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge on Thursday suddenly postponed the sentencing of a man at the center of a fatal meningitis outbreak that hit multiple states, dismaying people who were poised to speak about their grief 12 years after the tragedy.

The judge who took a no-contest plea from Barry Cadden retired in March. But the defense attorney and the prosecutor said they still expected Michael Hatty would return to impose a minimum 10-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter.

Instead, Judge Matthew McGivney inherited the case. He postponed the sentencing until May 10 to clear up the confusion, upsetting many people who were ready to give statements.

A woman cried outside the Livingston County courtroom, 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.

Peggy Nuerenberg, whose 88-year-old mother, Mary Plettl, died after getting a tainted steroid injection for pain, said she was “absolutely blindsided.”

“How things developed today were …