Demolition contractor rejects plea offer

GRIFFIN CAMPBELL, the demolition contractor charged with six counts of third-degree murder and related offenses in the June 2013 Market Street building collapse that killed six people and injured others, rejected a plea deal yesterday and said he will take his case to trial.

"I reject the offer," Campbell, 51, confirmed to Common Pleas Judge Glenn Bronson.

Campbell's trial is scheduled to begin next Tuesday with jury selection in a third-floor courtroom of the Criminal Justice Center. Opening statements could begin Sept. 30 or Oct. 1.

The trial is expected to last four weeks, until about Oct. 23.

Jennifer Selber, chief of the district attorney's Homicide Unit, told Bronson at a final pretrial conference that she expects prosecution witnesses to finish testifying by about Oct. 13.

Defense attorney William Hobson estimated that the defense's case would last about five to seven days.

"We're all listing a lot of the same people" as witnesses, such as members of the Salvation Army, Hobson said of his and the prosecution's witness lists.

At 10:42 a.m. June 5, 2013, an unsupported three-story wall of a building being demolished next to the one-story Salvation Army thrift store, at 22nd and Market streets in Center City, crashed onto the store, killing six people and injuring 13, including a woman whose legs had to be amputated.

Sean Benschop, the operator of a 36,000-pound excavator at the demolition site, and Campbell, the general contractor on the job, were the only two people criminally charged in the collapse.

In July, Benschop, 44, pleaded guilty to six counts of involuntary manslaughter, 12 counts of recklessly endangering another person and related offenses. In exchange, prosecutors dropped third-degree murder charges and agreed not to ask for a sentence of more than 10 to 20 years in prison when Benschop is sentenced.

Selber told Bronson yesterday that Campbell was offered the same plea deal as Benschop - that if he pleaded to all charges except the murder counts, prosecutors would drop the murder charges against him and not recommend a sentence of more than 10 to 20 years in prison.

Campbell has been in custody since November 2013; Benschop has been in custody since June 2013.

It's possible Benschop will be called to testify as a prosecution witness at Campbell's trial. Prosecutors have said Benschop has agreed to cooperate.

Yesterday, when asked if the prosecution expects to call Benschop as a trial witness, Selber said, "We have to see how it goes."

Prosecutors allege that out of greed, Campbell cut corners. They allege that under his direction, Benschop ignored the dangers of operating heavy machinery at the demolition site.

Campbell has pleaded not guilty. His attorney has contended that others, including Richard Basciano, who owned the building that was being demolished, should be held responsible for the collapse.

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