A masked Attorney General Maura Healey speaks during a press conference

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is appealing a decision by a state judge to drop criminal charges against two nursing home officials over their roles in a COVID-19 outbreak at the facility. 

Healey filed the notice of appeal in Hampden County Superior Court on Tuesday, her office announced. The move seeks to reverse a decision to dismiss handed down by State Judge Edward J. McDonough Jr. in late November in favor of former Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former medical director David Clinton, M.D.

The two faced criminal charges of causing or permitting serious bodily injury and neglect of an elder. They are believed to be the first nursing home officials in the United States criminally charged in a COVID-19 case.

The charges stemmed from the decision to merge two dementia care units, combining COVID-19 positive residents with others who were asymptomatic. More than 160 residents and staff members contracted the disease after an initial outbreak in the early months of the pandemic. The Department of Justice at the time also announced plans to investigate the outbreak.

McDonough ruled there wasn’t sufficient evidence presented that showed that the outcome would have been different had the units not merged. 

Healey on Tuesday argued that the “tragic loss of life at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home broke the promise that our commonwealth would honor these men who bravely served our country.” 

“We are filing this notice of appeal today to pursue accountability on behalf of their loved ones and communities,” she added. 

An attorney for Clinton, who is now retired, told local media his team believes they’ll be successful in fighting the appeal and that he will be “vindicated.”