wrote in message
...
On Feb 16, 3:24 am, "Robert Green" wrote:
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A German architect who built and designed a sprawling
mansion in the Hollywood Hills pleaded not guilty to manslaughter
Wednesday
in the death of a firefighter who was killed battling a blaze when a
ceiling
saturated with water collapsed on him.. Gerhard Albert Becker, who also
owned the home, entered his plea in Los Angeles County Superior Court. He
was jailed on $2 million bail and ordered to return to court March 1 for a
preliminary hearing.Becker was also the home's construction contractor,
and
authorities say the shoddy way he put it together, including putting a
fireplace on the third floor that was designed only for outside use, led
to
the fire.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/story/2...es-firefighter...

So, how does a "deathtrap" like this manage to pass inspection in the
first
place?

--
Bobby G.

I would agree that if he knowingly built the house in a totally unsafe
fashion that caused the fire, he is responsible. However, I'd like
to see other cases where a fire was started by gross negligence
and if they were charged with manslaughter? Like all the folks
who use cigarettes improperly. When those houses burn down
and other people die, do they get charged?

There has been a trend somewhat of filing these kinds of charges when
firefighters are killed. If I were the owner/architect/builder I'd
certainly try to drag the AHJ into the picture because he's the one who
apparently (we have no *real* idea from the story) approved this horribly
shoddy work.

Another interesting one is the house in CT where the 3 children
and grandparents died Xmas from the boyfriend/contractor
throwing out hot ashes in a paper bag. Last I heard the local
police had concluded the investigation about a week ago and
turned everything over to the state attorney general.

They might make a manslaughter charge stick with a lot of luck. However,
I've heard about such fires before and some of them happen with ashes that
seem to be totally extinguished. That pretty much removes intent or even
negligence from the case and makes it what it probably was all along: a
stupid accident. I don't think the SAG will get very far with the case,
although a good prosecutor could convict/indict a ham sandwhich given the
right set of circumstances.

Perhaps in both cases the prosecutors are trying to throw a serious scare
into the "perps" with very little real hope of securing a conviction. Just
being charged is going to cost both "perps" a lot of money, so perhaps TPTB
see that as the only real consequences they'll face.

Regarding your question about how other cases have been resolved, there was
a similar case recently in NYC:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/refere...nyc/index.html

On Dec. 22, 2008, the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau,
announced manslaughter charges against three construction supervisors and
the subcontractor John Galt Corporation, saying, "Everybody who could have
screwed up, screwed up here." Galt, virtually a shell corporation, was in
charge of the demolition. Although New York City was not named in the
indictment, the Bloomberg administration acknowledged "the failures of our
agencies to inspect and detect the conditions that contributed to the
deaths." As the trial began in late March 2011, lawyers for the defendants .
.. . made clear that the city's culpability in the fire would form a
cornerstone of their arguments . . . the prosecution accused them of being
involved in, or having the knowledge of, the removal of a standpipe in the
basement of the Deutsche Bank building during asbestos abatement . . .
Defense lawyers argued that their clients either had not known that a
section of the standpipe was missing or that they did not have the expertise
to know the significance of the standpipe. The defense also said there was
much blame to go around - from the Fire Department, which failed to conduct
regular inspections on the building, to federal, state and local regulators,
who did not raise any issues regarding the missing section of the standpipe.
In June 2011, Mr. Melofchik was found not guilty on all three counts,
including manslaughter, a day after the same jury acquitted Mr. DePaola of
the same charges. On July 6, a judge acquitted Mr. Alvo and found the Galt
company guilty of reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor.

So, if those guys had a firefighting standpipe removed and were found not
guilty, it's going to be a stretch for the LA owner/builder Becker to get
convicted. It seems to me that removing something like a firefighting water
supply is a lot more culpable than bad design that allowed water to pool on
the roof.

I can easily see a firefighter's union "pushing" the DA to file to pave the
way for a civil trial and the chance to recover money for the firefighter's
family. If you recall, OJ skated on the criminal charges but ended up
paying through the nose at the civil trial.

As I recall from reading about the Galt trial when it was in progress, great
significance was given to the FDNY's failure to inspect the site properly.
Some commentators felt that the FDNY pressed the case against Galt to cover
up their own malfeasance, although burying the whole incident altogether
might have done a better "cover-up" job.

--
Bobby G.