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Pontiac — The attorney for the CEO of a Troy medical facility where a 5-year-old boy died in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber explosion last year plans to file an appeal after an Oakland Circuit Court judge on Wednesday denied a request to dismiss the second-degree murder charge against his client.
Oxford Center CEO Tamela Peterson has been charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of 5-year-old Thomas Cooper in January 2025. Peterson is one of four Oxford Center employees charged in connection with Cooper's death, one of whom entered a no-contest plea this week.
Peterson's attorney Gerald Gleeson argued in Oakland County Circuit Court on Wednesday that Peterson's second-degree murder charge should be dismissed because Peterson did not meet the element of malicious intent in the charge. After Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwamé Rowe declined to dismiss the charge, Gleeson said he would file an interlocutory appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals to try to get the charge removed.
Peterson was ordered to stand trial earlier this year, along with Oxford Center operations manager Gary Marken and safety director Jeffrey Mosteller. They're accused of not using standard safety practices for hyperbaric oxygen chambers, which killed Cooper, who was getting treatment at the Oxford Center's Troy location for ADHD and sleep apnea.
Mosteller pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday. His second-degree murder charge was dismissed. He faces up to 15 years in prison and will be sentenced Aug. 31.
Peterson's second-degree murder charge stemmed from her repeated refusal to require patients to use grounding straps to minimize static electricity and thus fires in the hyperbaric chamber, including when it was brought to her attention, according to Assistant Attorney General Chris Kessel. Attorney General Dana Nessel's office is prosecuting the case against the Oxford Center employees.
Gleeson argued Wednesday that Peterson's negligence did not amount to a murder charge because she believed static electricity was minimized without the grounding straps.
"That's what the government is hitching their wagon to, is that the safety strap wasn't used," said Gleeson.
Gleeson argued Wednesday that Peterson's "reckless disregard" that the state claims constitutes manslaughter, not second-degree murder. He claimed Peterson would have to have wanted Cooper to be harmed or killed for the second-degree murder charge to stand.
Kessel, on the other hand, argued the second-degree murder charge could rest on what Peterson "should have known, what they knew, and how they acted." He said an employee had brought concerns about not using the grounding straps to Peterson, but that Peterson called her out for being dissenting when she did.
Kessel also pointed to September testimony during a preliminary exam for Peterson and the other employees from hyperbaric expert Francois Burman, who said he's never seen a facility with a hyperbaric chamber operate without a grounding strap. He then referenced comments from Andrew Melnyczenko, the technical and safety director of hyperbaric and altitude medicine at the Mayo Clinic.
"He was angry and quite frankly offended at how things were being done at the Oxford Center," said Kessel.
"It's not the intent for wanting something bad to happen. It's the intentional neglect of professional standards," Kessel said of the murder charge.
Rowe ultimately sided with Kessel in his decision.
"The intent to do an act with disregard to life-threatening consequences is malicious intent," said Rowe.
Rowe stayed Peterson's case pending her appeal to the state court.
Gleeson said he would likely file the appeal within a week of Wednesday.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Oakland Circuit judge denies request to dismiss murder charge in hyperbaric death
