Cases settled: 2 ex-officials of veterans home where 76 died in the pandemic avoid jail time

By MICHAEL CASEY
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Two former officials of a Massachusetts veterans home where at least 76 people died during the COVID-19 pandemic will avoid jail time in the case. Bennett Walsh, the former superintendent of the Veterans’ Home in Holyoke, and Dr. David Clinton, its former medical director, settled their criminal cases Tuesday. They  were facing five counts of criminal neglect after the Massachusetts’ highest court overruled a lower court judge last year and reinstated the charges. Walsh and Clinton pleaded not guilty in 2020 to charges stemming from their decision that year to combine two dementia units. That step brought together residents who tested positive for the coronavirus with those who manifested no symptoms.