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Judge: No bail in deadly Center City building collapse

Griffin Campbell and Sean Benschop, the demolition contractor and equipment operator facing criminal charges in June's deadly Center City building collapse, will be confined to jail until their preliminary hearings Feb. 18, a Municipal Court judge ruled Tuesday.

Sean Benschop (left), was the excavator during the fatal building collapse in Center City. Griffin T. Campbell (right) owns the company hired to demolish the building. Bail requests were denied on Tuesday.
Sean Benschop (left), was the excavator during the fatal building collapse in Center City. Griffin T. Campbell (right) owns the company hired to demolish the building. Bail requests were denied on Tuesday.Read more

Griffin Campbell and Sean Benschop, the demolition contractor and equipment operator facing criminal charges in June's deadly Center City building collapse, will be confined to jail until their preliminary hearings Feb. 18, a Municipal Court judge ruled Tuesday.

Without comment, Judge Patrick F. Dugan denied bail requests for both men and set the February date for prosecutors to make their basic case against the defendants.

Campbell faces six counts of third-degree murder, and Benschop is accused of involuntary manslaughter for allegedly ignoring standard safety practices while tearing down a four-story building near 22d and Market Streets.

An investigating grand jury alleged Nov. 25 that Campbell violated safety rules and ignored warnings from construction workers to maximize the salvage value of wood and other materials removed from the building.

Both men have been held without bail since the grand jury report. Benschop, who operated an excavator as a subcontractor to Campbell, was previously held on $1.55 million bail, unable to raise the 10 percent necessary to get released.

Six people died and 14 were injured June 5, when an unsupported brick wall, four stories in places, collapsed onto a thrift shop run by the Salvation Army.

Campbell faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted of multiple counts of third-degree murder, according to his attorney, William D. Hobson.

Hobson told reporters that his client had been overcharged because of the public attention focused on the accident.