Farber also denied defendants' motion for release of the grand jury's minutes. Sources say a different judge, Daniel P. Conviser, will likely preside at the trial.

Paul Schechtman, attorney for Lomma, says he's made "no final decision" on whether to request a judge or jury trial. Asked what he thought about the judge's decision to uphold the indictment, Schechtman says, "[motions to dismiss are] hard motions to win, but the important thing is to win the trial."

Vance and Bernadette Panzella, a lawyer representing Leo’s estate in a separate civil case against the defendants, both have said that Lomma’s “greed” caused the collapse.

Panzella said she believes the defendants will be convicted based on the evidence, despite the results of the other high-profile construction cases.

In July 2010, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Roger Hayes found crane rigger William Rapetti, a member of operating engineers' Local 14, not guilty of a similar 2008 tower-crane collapse in Manhattan that killed seven workers and civilians.

That crane was also owned by Lomma, but he was not prosecuted for that collapse.

Rapetti’s attorney Arthur Aidala hoped to minimize the effect of his client being paraded before the press in a so-called perp walk by waiving his client’s right to a jury trial, believing the judge would be less swayed by the emotional impact of publicity than the jurors.

This summer, in rulings by the trial judge and a jury, negligent homicide prosecutions were rejected in the Deutsche Bank fire case.

Acquitted of the major criminal charges were Jeffrey Melofchik, 49, a former executive of project contractor Bovis Lend Lease; Salvatore DePaola, 56, foreman for site asbestos-cleanup subcontractor, The John Galt Corp.; and Mitchel Alvo, 58, the sub's project manager. The now-defunct John Galt Corp. was slapped with a $5,000 fine for the lesser charge of reckless endangerment.

Edward Little, Melofchik’s attorney in that trial, recently told ENR in a phone interview that prosecuting construction industry leaders for criminally negligent homicide is a tough sell, regardless of whether a judge or a jury is hearing the case.