TORONTO (CelebrityAccess) — Charges in the fatal Radiohead concert stage collapse in 2012 were stayed this week after a judge ruled that the case had taken too long to come to trial.
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Company Ontario court Judge Ann Nelson ruled on Tuesday that the lengthy delays had violated the rights of those being charged to a timely hearing.
"This case was a complex case that required more time than other cases in the system," Nelson said in her 21-page judgment. "After allowing for all of the exceptional circumstances that were in play, this case still will have taken too long to complete."
The case stemmed from June 16, 2012, incident where high winds toppled parts of an outdoor stage hours ahead of a concert by the band Radiohead that killed 33-year-old British drum tech Scott Johnson and injured three others. In 2013, engineer Dominic Cugliari, along with contractor Optex Staging and promoter Live Nation were charged with 13 offenses under provincial health and safety laws.
A trial partially took place earlier this year, but the presiding judge declared he had lost jurisdiction given his appointment to a higher court before the trial could be concluded. The loss of jurisdiction resulted in a mistrial, with a new hearing set to begin on Sept. 11th.
Lawyers for Live Nation and Cugliari then argued that the charges should be stayed after the lengthy delays.
"No doubt, this decision will be incomprehensible to Mr. Johnson's family, who can justifiably complain that justice has not been done," Nelson said in her ruling, according to the CBC.
