The former head of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home is expected to face a judge Tuesday.
Bennett Walsh is set for a change-of-plea hearing in a criminal case over the deaths of more than 70 of elderly veteran residents of the facility in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Walsh’s change-of-plea hearing in the case — he faces five counts of neglect — is scheduled in Hampshire Superior Court for Tuesday afternoon.
The case first came to light when Gov. Maura Healey was the attorney general — and it ended up becoming one of the deadliest COVID outbreaks at a long-term care facility in the country.
Walsh and David Clinton, Holyoke Soldiers’ Home’s former medical director, were serving as high-ranking officials at the facility back in March 2022, when they allegedly made to combine 42 residents from two dementia units into a single unit that typically held 25 beds. Some of the veterans were symptomatic for COVID-19, and some were asymptomatic.
Nearly 80 residents died and many more residents and staffers were sickened in spring 2020 at the Holyoke home.
Sources tell NBC10 Boston that Walsh won’t face any jail time under a possible plea deal — which would involve a case disposition known as continued without finding — but would have to comply with certain court order for three months.
This change of plea is technically not a guilty plea. It’s just admitting to certain facts that, if the case went to trial, the defendant believes the prosecution would prove.
“I think it’s ridiculous. It’s not even a slap on the wrist. It just wreaks of dirty politics. Family members I have spoken to are outraged,” said Laurie Mandeville-Beaudette, whose dad died due to the outbreak. “He made the decision that led to all the deaths, and he tried covering them up.”
These criminal charges against Walsh were dismissed last year but then reinstated by the state’s Supreme Judicial Court.
NBC10 Boston has reached out to Walsh’s attorneys for comment but have yet to hear back.