Radiohead Stage Collapse Trial Ends

Charges against Live Nation, engineer Domenic Cugliari, and Optex Staging over the 2012 Toronto stage collapse that killed a drum tech and injured three other workers have been stayed because of unreasonable delays.

AP Photo – Stage Collapse
Emergency personnel work at the scene of a collapsed stage at Downsview Park in Toronto.

The case was opened by Canada’s Ministry of Labor in 2013 and took a long time to process because of its technical nature.

While Justice Shaun Nakatsuru allowed for the trial to extend well past the 18 month limit originally set for it, a mistrial was declared earlier this year after his appointment to the Ontario Superior Court.

The new judge presiding over the case, Justice Ann Nelson, decided Sept. 5 that the delays had deprived the defendants of their right to a speedy trial, effectively letting them off the hook for the death of Scott Johnson at a Radiohead concert in Downsview Park June 16, 2012. The defendants faced 13 charges for violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

“No doubt, this decision will be incomprehensible to Mr. Johnson’s family, who can justifiably complain that justice has not been done,” Nelson was quoted as saying in the Toronto Star.