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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The latest developments in the sentencing for two men convicted in the 2013 Philadelphia building collapse that killed six people: (All times local)
12:30 p.m.
A man operating heavy equipment while demolishing a building that collapsed on a neighboring thrift store, killing six people, has been sentenced to 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison.
That's half the prison time for the contractor who hired him, Griffin Campbell, who also was sentenced Friday in the 2013 tragedy that shook Philadelphia.
Sean Benschop told the judge he made a mistake in an effort to feed his family. He apologized to the families and said he had come to know one of the victims, a man from the Salvation Army store from Liberia, because they talked as they drank coffee together at the site in the mornings.
He said he "couldn't believe it" when he heard the man had died.
Thirteen others were injured in the collapse, including one woman who lost both legs.
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12:15 p.m.
The contractor who struck a cut-rate deal to demolish a building that collapsed on a neighboring thrift store, killing six people, has been sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison.
The judge says the jury on Friday found 51-year-old Griffin Campbell to be criminally reckless and that he lied to investigators afterward.
Judge Glenn Bronson says the victims suffered slow, agonizing deaths in a crime that shook the city in 2013. He stacked the manslaughter sentences consecutively.
A family member shouted an expletive about the sentence as she left the courtroom, prompting the judge to threaten to arrest anyone else who made an outburst.
Sean Benschop, the man operating the heavy equipment at the site when a towering brick wall fell, is also to be sentenced Friday. He testified at trial against Campbell.
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11:30 a.m.
Relatives of six people killed in a Philadelphia building collapse in 2013 say they are distressed that some people they deem responsible have not been punished.
Their comments come as two demolition contractors hired at a cut-rate price to take down an empty store are being sentenced Friday for the deaths.
Contractors Griffin Campbell and Sean Benschop (BEN-'skop) face sentencing for involuntary manslaughter and other crimes. Campbell's wife says he hoped the $112,000 contract would be his big break after years running a lunch truck.
Prosecutors say Campbell ignored safety standards before a towering brick wall collapsed onto a thrift store.
City Treasurer Nancy Winkler calls it "disturbing and distressing" that they had to sue the building owner and others to seek full justice over the collapse that killed her 24-year-old daughter.
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8:30 a.m.
Two demolition contractors being sentenced in a deadly Philadelphia building collapse admit some responsibility but they also call themselves scapegoats for the people who hired them.
Prosecutors say contractor Griffin Campbell cut corners and caused a four-story brick wall to collapse on an adjacent thrift store two years ago, killing six people and injuring a dozen others.
Campbell was hired at a fraction of the going rate for the job.
Prosecutors will ask a judge Friday to sentence Campbell to 25 to 50 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and other charges. A jury cleared him of third-degree murder.
Subcontractor Sean Benschop (BEN'-skop) pleaded guilty to the involuntary manslaughter counts. He could get far less time for his trial testimony against Griffin.
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This story has been corrected to show one of the defendant's last name is spelled Benschop, not Benscop.
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