The Alameda County District Attorney has said the victims of the Berkeley balcony collapse in California deserve for the matter to be “thoroughly and exhaustively investigated”, as she launched an investigation to ascertain whether criminal charges will be brought.
At a press conference, District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said the investigation would examine whether the evidence suggests a crime was committed in the lead up to the collapse which resulted in the deaths of six young Irish students and the serious injury of seven others.
“I would like to start by saying to the families, to those who lost their lives, to those who are surviving this tragedy and their loved ones, and our community at large, each of you deserve to have this matter thoroughly and exhaustively investigated,” said Ms O’Malley.
“We will do so, and that is the pledge I make from my office.”
She said the investigation would involve the forensic examination of material – something which was outside the scope of the City of Berkeley’s investigation, which has concluded.
“We have got to make sure that whatever investigation we conduct and whatever findings we make before the final decision is made, that we are doing so not in the court of public opinion, but rather something that can be evaluated and brought into a court of law,” she said.
“This is a criminal investigation. There are multiple questions my office has to answer in order to determine whether or not the facts warrant criminal charges.
“As with any criminal inquiry, we will ultimately have to make the determination whether there are facts that support criminal charges, whether or not those charges could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
The nature of the investigation will centre on whether “criminal negligence” was committed, which she described as that which involves “more than just ordinary carelessness, inattention, or mistaken judgment”.
“Criminal negligence occurs when a person acts with negligence in a reckless way that creates a high risk of death or great bodily injury, and that a reasonable person would have known that that acting or conduct would have created such a risk,” she said.
“The negligence that we’ll be evaluating must be aggravated, must be culpable, must be gross or reckless, and it must be conduct that is such a departure from the conduct of an ordinary, prudent person, or careful person, under the circumstances as to be incompatible with protecting life.”
She also said that an individual who is deemed to have engaged in criminal negligence can be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
“Individuals can be prosecuted who are part of an industry,” she said. “There have been cases.
“We actually prosecuted a case many years back where a worker was killed because of the negligence of the owner conducting the business, and that owner was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
“So that would be one example of someone who could be held liable, but we don’t know until we get into the investigation.”
Ms O’Malley said her office would also be pursuing civil charges and that outside experts would be brought in to assist.
“We’re looking at all of this from both a criminal and a civil perspective,” she said. “Our ability to move a case in a civil court is really from a consumer protection (point of view), and not necessarily representing individuals. We will be looking into that.
“We are looking at the case completely so we have lawyers who work in our civil division and investigators who do civil cases, as well as our criminal investigators. They would very likely forge in two different directions.
“We will bring in outside experts as well as those who work here. We are working with the state of California and the city of Berkeley to make sure we bring the best experts in to help us move this investigation forward.”
She said that as soon as the investigation is complete, her office will report its findings.
Five Dublin students – Eoghan Culligan, Lorcán Miller, Niccolai Schuster, Eimear Walsh and Olivia Burke, as well as Ms Burke’s Irish-American cousin Ashley Donohoe from Rohnert Park, California – were killed when the balcony they were standing on collapsed during a birthday party on June 16th.
Seven others – Hannah Waters, Aoife Beary, Clodagh Cogley, Jack Halpin, Conor Flynn, Sean Fahey, and Niall Murray – were seriously injured in the incident.
Mr Flynn and Mr Fahey, both from Dublin, have been released from hospital in recent days.
