Pontiac — An Oakland County Circuit Court judge on Wednesday denied a request to throw out murder charges against the operations manager at a Troy medical facility where a five-year-old boy died last year in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber explosion, saying there’s no evidence a lower court abused its discretion.
Judge Kwamé Rowe denied a request to quash Gary Marken’s bindover on second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges connected to the death of Thomas Cooper, meaning the case should proceed to trial.
“Because there is evidence on both sides, this court as a matter of law cannot find the district court abused its discretion (in sending Marken to stand trial on the charges),” Rowe said. “There’s evidence to both support and negate malice, there’s evidence to both support and negate negligence.”
Marken was the operations manager at the Oxford Center in Troy where Cooper was receiving treatment in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber when an explosion occurred in January 2025. He’s one of four people charged in connection with Thomas’s death.
Oxford Center CEO Tamela Peterson also sought to have second-degree murder and manslaughter charges against her dismissed, but a judge denied the request.
Todd Flood, Marken’s attorney, argued prosecutors failed to show sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that Marken caused Thomas’s death, that he acted with malice or that he acted in a grossly negligent manner.
Flood said he plans to appeal Rowe’s decision to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Flood said Wednesday every witness with knowledge of Marken’s role at the Oxford Center testified he worked solely as the facilities manager, where he did janitorial tasks. He had no authority or involvement in making medical or safety decisions, Flood said.
Jeffrey Mosteller, the Oxford Center’s safety director who was also charged in connection with Thomas’d death, will be sentenced Aug. 31 by Rowe after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter in July. A second-degree murder charge was dropped.
And chamber operator Aleta Moffitt is charged with involuntary manslaughter and entering a false medical record.
Throughout a preliminary exam against Marken and the three other employees, prosecutors put witnesses on the stand who said the Oxford Center ignored safety protocols for hyperbaric oxygen chambers, specifically not using grounding straps. Grounding straps are wrist straps that connect a patient to the chamber to drain static electricity that may build up.
Several witnesses testified that Peterson, Mosteller and Marken ignored guidance from the chamber manufacturer’s manual, the National Fire Protection Association and the Oxford Center’s own training materials about safety in hyperbaric chambers.
But Flood argued Marken wasn’t involved in decisions related to safety,
“There was not one part (of the preliminary examination transcript) where my client, as a janitor or as a facilities manager, made decisions on behalf of safety, on behalf of whether or not to use a strap,” Flood said. “That was never his role.”
Assistant Attorney General Chris Kessel said Wednesday Marken had been training other employees and doing more jobs than just a janitor would.
“It was about him affirmatively teaching people to not use the straps anymore, very clearly at Tammy Peterson’s order,” Kessel said. “Tammy Peterson might have made the decision to not use the straps, but did Gary Marken knowingly enforce a safety protocol knowing it could result in the death of someone like Thomas Cooper?”
When she made her ruling at the end of the preliminary examination, ordering the four to stand trial, 52-4 District Court Judge Maureen McGinnis cited the importance of former employees’ testimony that their concerns about safety and grounding straps were brushed aside by Peterson, Marken and Mosteller.
“The decision-making pattern consistent throughout the testimony can lead a person of ordinary prudence to believe that Tammy, Gary and Jeff have the knowledge and capacity to implement proper safety procedures but intentionally decided to implement procedures that were inconsistent with industry standards,” McGinnis said.
kberg@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Oakland Co. judge denies request to dismiss hyperbaric chamber murder case
Reporting by Kara Berg, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Kara Berg, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
