He denied that Lomma needed to hire someone with an engineering degree. “For someone in the business of renting cranes, what would a structural engineer do [from] nine to five every day?” he asked.

Hickey countered that Varganyi’s alleged incompetence was a "sad fact," not a prosecutor’s narrative. “The sad fact is that Tibor Varganyi could not answer the questions [in court]. He tried,” she said.

'Nonsense on Stilts'

Former city Dept. of Buildings inspector Michael Carbone testified that he gave the turntable only a quick glance during his inspection, and he admitted on the stand that, before being pressured to resign his agency position, he had accepted repeated payments from other clients.

After the collapse, Carbone testified that he stepped into Lomma’s office to discuss working for him, but they decided against it because of the criminal investigation.

"Carbone does the least he can do, short of walking around with a blindfold on,” Hickey said, referring to his inspection.

Shechtman played down the appearance of corruption, saying that Bethany Klein, former head of the department's cranes-and- Derricks unit, testified that Carbone had no bias in favor of Lomma. But, not surprisingly, he also criticized Klein and other public regulators.

"Any mistake that Jimmy Lomma made in this case pales in comparison to the record of incompetence this case reveals about the Department of Buildings,” Shechtman charged. He argued that building codes gave unclear instructions on when the agency needed to be notified during crane repairs.

“Their code says you need to notify in certain circumstances, and it takes you to a code that doesn’t exist,” Shechtman said.

To prove Lomma guilty of negligent homicide, prosecutors must show he knew that he was violating safety regulations. Shechtman contended that prosecutors did not meet that burden of proof. "There was no notice to anyone,” he said, later adding, “It’s nonsense on stilts. It’s just absurd.”

'Road Map'

Prosecutor Hickey took offense at the accusations Lomma leveled at the regulators. “Of course, Mr. Lomma could always blame the Department of Buildings,” she said. “The Department of Buildings may be an easy target, but they are the police.”

Hickey said Lomma went through the regulations with a “fine-toothed comb,” looking for loopholes, but that the head of the department gave clear instructions.

“Bethany Klein gave James Lomma a road map about how to repair the model correctly,” Hickey said. “If the Department of Buildings tells you to do something, you have to do it. … James Lomma sees the Department of Buildings as an inconvenience.”
 
Defense attorneys offered several alternative explanations for the collapse, including lubrication, temperature and even a lightning strike, although prosecutors say only Lomma witnessed that alleged "act of God."
 
Edward P. Cox and Jim Wiethorn, who both work for Haag Engineering, argued these theories as the defense experts.
 
Hickey dismissed them as “professional testifiers” whose “facts are on sale to the highest bidder.”  She criticized one defense argument that Leo, who died in the cab, was partly to blame for the collapse.

“To call it a theory gives it too much credence,” Hickey said.

While Shechtman claimed that prosecutors “overcharged, overpromised, and oversold” the case against his client, Hickey said that criminal and negligent homicide charges were justified. “Here, we treat all life as sacred. … It’s this court where we come for the truth,” Hickey said. 

Outcomes

In the 2010 trial of rigger William Rapetti related to a separate fatal New York City crane collapse in 2008, the union worker's attorney said he opted for a bench trial to avoid an emotional response from the jury—believing that a judge would follow the technical complexities of the trial more dispassionately.

The bid paid off when Rapetti won an acquittal.

A year later, three construction defendants accused of causing a 2007 fire that killed two firefighters in a Ground Zero-area building that was being demolished, hedged their bets. Two won acquittals from juries. A judge cleared their site colleague but handed down a partial conviction to a corporate defendant, the project's original demolition subcontractor, John Galt Corp.