Facts from the courtroom
July 13, 2022

Nancy Peeler pleads the 5th, refuses to answer questions on what she knew about Flint

On July 13, 2022, VNA called Nancy Peeler to the witness stand. Ms. Peeler was Director of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) during the Flint Water Crisis. In this role, Ms. Peeler had access to blood lead test results for children in Flint throughout the crisis but failed to identify and report a significant jump in lead levels, claiming that any change was attributed to normal, seasonal variation.

For her failure to properly address the rising blood lead levels of children in Flint following the switch in water source, Ms. Peeler faces two felony counts of misconduct in office and one misdemeanor count of willful neglect.

Rather than answer questions about what she knew and when she knew it, Ms. Peeler elected to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. In doing so, she joins other government officials including former Governor Rick Snyder, former Flint Emergency Managers Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose, and former Flint Director of Public Works Howard Croft.

The following is a transcript of Ms. Peeler’s exchange with VNA’s counsel.

Q. Good morning, Ms. Peeler. From 2014 to 2015, you were a manager of MDHHS’s Early Childhood Health section, where you also supervised the childhood lead poisoning prevention program or CLPPP, right?

A. On advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based on the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Q. And DHHS’s duties include identifying and investigating potential public health threats, such as lead exposure in Michigan, correct?

A. On advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based on the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Q. Isn’t it true that blood lead data for Michigan children was available to MDHHS throughout 2014 and 2015?

A. On advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based on the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Q. On July 22, 2015, MDHHS received a request from Governor Snyder’s office to access whether children’s blood lead levels in Flint had changed after the switch to the Flint River in April 2014. Isn’t that true?

A. On advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based on the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Q. It is true that MDHHS could have analyzed the available blood lead data for Flint children before mid-2015, correct?

A. On advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based on the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.