Metro

Rigger declines jury in crane-collapse trial

Accused killer crane rigger William Rappetti has decided to go to trial next week without those pesky, emotional jurors.

The rigger — charged with manslaughter for the 2008 crane collapse on 51st Street that killed seven — told a Manhattan judge today that he wants a bench trial.

“It’s probably the most important decision in his life,” said his lawyer, Arthur Aidala.

Rappetti’s decision followed a week of on-the-record concern over how jurors would react to such emotion-charged evidence as a wreckage-trapped civilian’s screams of pain to a 911 operator.

Rappetti had even expressed concern last week that prospective jurors not hear the word “collapse,” when the judge described the case to them.

Aidala said his client’s decision to go jury-free was based on “a hundred different factors,” including how difficult some jurors might find it to concentrate on very technical testimony about crane construction throughout a six-week mid-summer trial.

Experts on both sides have conducted their own materials tests on actual cranes, simulating the collapse. Lead prosecutor Deborah Hickey said yesterday she plans to call between 40 and 50 witnesses.

Prosecutors blame the collapse on what they call Rappetti’s reckless corner cutting as the crane’s mast was being extended upward; Rappetti insists that his actions were all in line with industry standards, and hopes to shift blame to other factors, including crane operator error.

Opening statements are tentatively set for Monday.