Conviction of Landlord Who Caused Building Explosion, Death, and Injury Upheld

LVT Number: #31507

In 2015, two people were killed and 13 injured in the explosion of an unauthorized gas line rigged between two apartment buildings. The landlord and his general contractor were convicted in criminal court on multiple counts of second-degree manslaughter, second- and third-degree assault, and second-degree reckless endangerment. The charges were based on their roles in planning, building, and operating the dangerous, makeshift gas delivery system. They were sentenced to four to 12 years in prison.

In 2015, two people were killed and 13 injured in the explosion of an unauthorized gas line rigged between two apartment buildings. The landlord and his general contractor were convicted in criminal court on multiple counts of second-degree manslaughter, second- and third-degree assault, and second-degree reckless endangerment. The charges were based on their roles in planning, building, and operating the dangerous, makeshift gas delivery system. They were sentenced to four to 12 years in prison.

The defendants appealed and lost. The evidence was legally sufficient to prove that the defendants recklessly caused the victims' deaths when they deliberately circumvented safety regulations to create and operate the unauthorized system that diverted gas from one building to the apartments in another. The explosion was a foreseeable result of their actions. The jury was entitled at trial to credit testimony by the prosecutor's expert. The expert stated that a massive volume of natural gas escaped from open meters, ignited in the basement of the second building, and followed a path up stairs and out of the front of the building.

People v. Kukic: Index No. 74/16, 2021 NY Slip Op 03996, NYLJ No. 1624450548 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 6/22/21; Acosta, PJ, Webber, Kennedy, Shulman, JJ)