Demolition contractor Griffin Campbell, who is facing six counts of third-degree murder after the 2013 collapse of a wall killed six people in a neighboring Salvation Army store, has rejected a plea deal and elected to take his case to trial. Campbell was the general contractor for the demolition project.
In July, the excavator operator, Sean Benschop, pled guilty to six counts of involuntary manslaughter, 12 counts of recklessly endangering another person and related offenses. Campbell was allegedly offered the same plea deal, and if he pled guilty to all the charges except the murder counts prosecutors would drop the murder charges and not recommend more than 10 to 20 years in prison.
Benschop and Campbell were the only two people criminally charged in the collapse.
