The Latest: Lawyer: Pharmacist didn't contaminate the drugs

The Latest on the trial of a Massachusetts pharmacist charged in a deadly nationwide meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated steroids (all times local):

2:30 p.m.

The attorney for a pharmacist charged in a deadly meningitis outbreak traced to tainted steroids says there is no evidence the man caused the drugs to become contaminated.

Stephen Weymouth told jurors during his opening statement Tuesday that prosecutors overreached by charging Glenn Chin with second-degree murder under federal racketeering law.

Weymouth said that the co-founder of the now-closed New England Compounding Center, Barry Cadden, was the one calling the shots. He says Chin was merely hardworking employee with a long safety track record.

Weymouth urged the jurors not let their emotions get in the way of the facts.

Chin's trial is expected to last several weeks. He faces up to life in prison.

Cadden was sentenced in June to nine years in prison.

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1 p.m.

A prosecutor says a pharmacist facing murder charges for his role in a deadly meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated steroid injections demonstrated a "shocking disregard" for human life.

Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese told jurors Tuesday that Glenn Chin instructed his staff to use expired ingredients, falsify documents and skip cleaning steps in order to get the drugs out the door as quickly as possible.

The 2012 meningitis outbreak that killed 76 people and sickened hundreds of others was blamed on contaminated steroid injections made by the New England Compounding Center.

Chin ran the rooms where the drugs were made. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of all counts of second-degree murder under federal racketeering law.

Chin's attorney was expected to deliver his opening statement later Tuesday.