An Orleans Parish grand jury will not file criminal charges in the 2019 collapse of the Hard Rock hotel construction. WWL-TV reports a family member of Anthony Magrette, one of the three men killed in the engineering failure, learned of the decision after Thursday's closed-door meeting of the panel.
Construction workers Quinnyon Wimberly and Jose Ponce Arreola also died in the collapse.
New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams chose to have a grand jury investigate the matter rather than simply filing charges. Williams said a lack of cooperation from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration hampered that investigation.
OSHA fined the company Heaslip Engineering more than $150,000, and cited another company, Hub Steel, for safety violations leading up to the collapse.
Despite wrapping up its investigation two years ago, OSHA would not hand over its findings to district attorney's office, saying they could not because of litigation pursued by Heaslip Engineering.
The statute of limitation to bring state criminal charges in the case expires on the fourth anniversary of the collapse: October 12, 2023.
