Defense: Deutsche Bank fire 'a mistake'

An asbestos abatement manager from Long Island charged with manslaughter in the fatal 2007 Deutsche Bank fire made a "mistake" but didn't commit a crime, his lawyer said in a closing argument yesterday.

"This is a case about mistakes -- mistakes, not criminal conduct," said Susan Hoffinger, the lawyer for Mitchel Alvo, 58, of Huntington Station. "We don't hold people criminally responsible for mistakes."

Two firefighters were killed in the blaze at the Deutsche Bank building, near Ground Zero. Prosecutors claim they died because a basement standpipe had been severed, leaving firemen with no water for the 17th-floor blaze.

Alvo, in charge of asbestos removal during the teardown of the building, is having his case decided by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Rena Uviller. A jury is currently deliberating the case of co-defendants Jeffrey Melofchik, 49, of Westfield, N.J., the site safety manager, and Sal DePaola, 56, of Staten Island, the basement supervisor.

Hoffinger struck common defense themes, arguing that ventilation problems, rather than lack of water, caused the deaths.

She said prosecutors didn't prove that Alvo knew the severed pipe was a standpipe, and pointed to a long list of agencies that failed to identify it as a risk, while others -- led by the FDNY itself -- failed to conduct legally required inspections. "Mitch Alvo is just one of the people who made a mistake," she told the judge.

In a statement to investigators after the fire, Alvo blamed himself for not tracing the standpipe, so the tragedy could have been prevented.

But Hoffinger said that was not an admission of guilt. "Those are statements of his humanity," she said, "not statements of a duty by law to identify, protect or maintain the standpipe."