2 Request No Jury in Deutsche Bank Building Fire Trial

NBC New York 03/14/2011 17:05

When a manslaughter case surrounding a blaze that killed two firefighters in a condemned ground zero skyscraper goes to trial this spring, a judge and a jury may split the role of deciding the verdict.

Lawyers for an asbestos-cleanup director and his employer said Monday they want to forgo a jury, while two other defendants would have one in the criminal case arising from the August 2007 blaze at the former Deutsche Bank building.

The judge and jurors would hear evidence side-by-side and render separate verdicts in a single trial, an unusual scenario in American courtrooms. The judge would weigh the charges against Mitchel Alvo and the John Galt Corp. while jurors did the same for Salvatore DePaola and Jeffrey Melofchik.

The three men and the company all face manslaughter and other charges in the fire at the tower. Prosecutors say the defendants failed to fix and covered up a break in a vital firefighting water pipe, called a standpipe. The defendants say they're being scapegoated for regulators' oversights.

With jury selection set to start March 21, state Supreme Court Justice Rena K. Uviller said she would review the request and noted that state law gives her limited discretion to refuse it. But she underscored the potential stakes.

"It's harder to persuade 12 people than it is to persuade one" of a person's guilt, she told Alvo.