Demolition contractor goes on trial in fatal building collapse
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A demolition contractor charged with murder after a building collapse killed six people inside a thrift store is set to go on trial in Philadelphia.
Jury selection begins Tuesday in the trial of 51-year-old Griffin Campbell.
Campbell’s lawyer insists that his client is being made a scapegoat in the 2013 collapse that also buried 13 survivors in rubble.
Investigators accuse Campbell of leaving a towering wall brick wall unsupported before it collapsed on the adjacent one-story store.
A subcontractor has pleaded guilty in the case and could testify against Campbell.
Campbell is charged with third-degree murder in the deaths.
The building owner who took his cut-rate bid for the job has not been charged.
Victims’ lawyers accuse the city of lax oversight of demolition work.