OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – The founder and CEO of an Oakland County health care facility, who is charged in the death of a 5-year-old boy who was killed in a hyperbaric chamber explosion, appeared in court on Monday.
Tamela Peterson, 58, of Brighton, and three other workers were charged after Thomas Cooper was killed when the hyperbaric chamber in which he was receiving treatment in exploded at the Oxford Center in Troy on Jan. 31, 2025.
The CEO appeared before 52-4 District Court Judge Maureen McGinnis on Monday, June 16, for a motion hearing.
You can watch the full hearing from Monday, June 16, in the video below:
The judge heard arguments about the use of a taint team in this case.
A taint team would be used to filter privileged documents, including attorney-client email communications.
The defense and prosecution would work together to come up with search terms that will catch any potentially privileged materials, with both sides having an equal opportunity to weigh in.
If they can’t agree on a search term, then they will go back to court, and the judge will rule on it, according to McGinnis.
Once the documents are filtered, the defense will have an opportunity to review the determinations and object if they don’t agree.
Assistant Attorney General Chris Kessel said that he believes he and Peterson’s defense attorney, Gerald Gleeson, will likely be in agreement about a lot of the terms, but as the judge also said, if there are disagreements, the court will decide.
Gleeson was opposed to the use of a taint team. One of the reasons he argued against it was due to the fact that the team would be comprised of attorneys from the same agency as the prosecution, the attorney general’s office.
McGinnis clarified that the team would not be made up of anyone who is working on this case or has worked on the case in the past.
There was also some discussion about why the prosecution would get the chance to see any potentially privileged material at all, and the judge said the prosecution already has some documents as part of what appears to be a properly executed search warrant, and said anything regarding that would be a whole separate argument.
McGinnis granted the motion. Peterson is expected to be in court again in July for another motion hearing.
Previous Coverage: 4 workers appear in court as Oakland County hyperbaric chamber explosion case moves forward
This comes after Peterson and the other three workers, Jeffrey Mosteller, 64, of Clinton Township, Gary Marken, 65, of Spring Arbor and Aleta Moffitt, 60, of Rochester Hills, appeared in court on May 28.
During that hearing, McGinnis scheduled a preliminary examination for Sept. 15 and Sept. 16, but had said it could be rescheduled if witnesses are unavailable on those days.
Peterson, along with Mosteller, the safety manager, and Marken, the primary management assistant, were charged with second-degree murder.
They were also given the alternative charge of involuntary manslaughter, which means that a jury will decide which charge accurately fits their conduct.
Moffitt, who was allegedly operating the hyperbaric chamber at the time of the explosion, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and falsifying medical records.