Mock Trial - Ash Hedley

what does a building inspector do?

A building inspector's basic job is to assist developers and property owners in ensuring that their buildings are safe and appropriately designed for their occupants. Among other things, a building inspector makes sure that in the event of a disaster such as a fire, earthquake, flood, etc., a building's design and layout will permit its occupants to exit the building as quickly and safely as possible.

what did you do after graduation?

After graduating, I thought It wouldn't hurt to try something new before spending the rest of my life as a civil engineer. So after graduating I took a shot at becoming a firefighter. secretly, I had always wanted to work in fire safety for the thrill of it all but never went for it. But as luck would have it, I couldn't pass the Ross Fire Department's applicant test, which had several testing phases. Getting through confined spaces got to me and my claustrophobia set in. I tried several times, but after a couple of failed attempts I gave up and figured becoming a building inspector would be the next best thing. So I went back to SC State and earned a master's degree in civil engineering in 2005.

What was your next step?

After the lawyers retained me, I knew there would be past inspection records to obtain and review. The other component of my retainer would be to conduct an onsite investigation.

What did you do in the meantime?

Around the same time, I figured out I could use my expertise to educate jurors and judges in court. I have been South Carolina's go-to trial expert in the area of building safety for a number of years now. Since 2015, I have testified in about two dozen civil and criminal trials regarding building hazards, code violations, sloppy renovations, and lots of other comparable topics. And the additional money coming in is not that bad either. I am compensated $8,000 every time I testify in court, which is the same as I am being paid to testify for this trial.

Did the exit follow the Code?

As far as I could tell, the door's lock met all three requirements. In this case, no alarms were activated. When I shined my flashlight into the locking mechanism itself, located on the right panic bar, I saw why the doors failed to unlock.

What do you believe was the cause of the October 26th tragedy

Based on my analysis of Corley Theater, it is my opinion that the absence of a third exit contributed to the tragedy on October 26th.

How do you know how many exits are needed?

Based on this calculation of people per seven square feet, the Fire Code then dictates the number of exits the building needs to have in order to be minimally safe or, as the Fire Code puts it, how many "means of egress" are needed. Finally, depending on the number of exits or means of egress there are, the Fire Code also indicates how large each exit needs to be.

Could you tell me a little about Corley Theater?

Corley Theater is a great theater in town. And although it is an old relic, both common sense and Ross's Fire Code dictate that the building needs to meet certain minimum safety requirements in order to remain open to the public.

Did you notice any details that were suspicious?

During my visit to the theater on November 4, 2019, I could not find any signage indicating the venue's maximum occupancy, which itself is a small but significant violation of Ross's Fire Code. And more so, I have previously been to shows at Corley Theater and while I never conducted an exact count, it sure seemed to me like there were more than 500 people crammed into the theater on each occasion I was there. I was not in attendance at the concert on October 26th. I was not able to obtain any information on the number of people who were in the theater at the actual time of the stampede.

How does the door/locking mechanism work?

Finley told me the side exit doors and stairs were added to Corley because its owners decided one single exit was not safe enough. The side exit doors were standard, industrial-sized double-doors with a push-bar handle on one of the doors. The push bar is commonly known as a "panic bar," because it provides the easiest means of opening a door in the event of an emergency.

Why did the doors fail to unlock?

First, I saw the most minute scratches where the hole was for the pass key - so minute it cannot be seen in the red circled area on Exhibit #10. I then identified a twisted-up piece of metal string lodged in the keyhole where the passkey is meant to be inserted into the push bar. This wire in the locking mechanism caused both doors to jam in a permanently locked or jammed position until removed.

In your professional opinion believe that Corley Theater is safe?

For a venue that regularly hosts concerts, technical compliance is simply not good enough, especially knowing the concert hall itself is on the building's second floor. In my opinion, in order to be truly safe, Corley Theater should have at least three exits.

How was business?

For a while, I did nothing but home inspections for people in the process of selling or buying a house, but after everything I learned to conduct commercial inspections for the county, I figured I should at least try to make use of the knowledge. So in 2015, I started devoting a portion of my time to inspections of small commercial buildings. It still is a small part of what I do, but it keeps things interesting.

Please state your name and age.

I am Ash Hedley and I am 42 years old

What did you determine from your inspection?

I determined that the second floor of Corley Theater - that is, the area where concertgoers stand, which excludes the stage, walkways, and other areas that would be inappropriate for occupancy during a standing concert - is approximately 50 feet wide by 70 feet long, equaling a total surface area of 3,500 square feet. Allowing for seven square feet of floor space per occupant means its maximum capacity is 500 people.

How far are the exits from each other? and how large are the doors?

I determined the exits are approximately 85 feet apart. Thus, according to Ross's Fire Code, they must each be at least ten feet wide in order to accommodate all occupants in a safe and efficient egress. Because the main venue area is on the second floor of the building, the stairwells past the exits must also be at least ten feet wide to avoid a "bottleneck" as people try to leave. Based on both the building's documentation and my own measurements, I determined the exits are each exactly ten feet wide.

What was the wire made of?

I extracted what appeared to be twisted wire, which is marked as Exhibit #11. * point to exhibit #11* As it turned out, it was a gold-colored guitar string.

where did you attend college?

I followed in my dad's footsteps and went to South Carolina State University and earned a bachelor's in civil engineering in 2002.

When were you called to join the trial and by whom?

I got a call from Cy Miles' defense lawyers on Friday morning, November 1, 2019.

How did you hear about this case?

I heard about the case on the 11 o'clock news on October 26th - I was parked by my phone for a week waiting to be called and retained for the trial.

So, Do you think overcrowding was the reason for the tragedy?

I know that Corley Theater was known for selling out and who knows how many people were actually on the second floor at the time given that the main floor has refreshments and there was live entertainment and food trucks out on the courtyard and side streets as well. However, if there truly were more than 500 people in the theater at the time of the stampede on October 26th, it is my opinion that being at or over capacity could have contributed to the injuries and the fatality of Janet Porter.

When did the inspection occur?

I paid the theater a surprise site visit on Monday morning, November 4th.

Where did you start?

I started by assessing the space's risks in light of its capacity and the circumstances of the event in question. "Capacity" is just a fancy way of referring to the maximum number of people fitting into a particular space before the space becomes crowded to the point of being unsafe.

What was your first job?

I started my career at Ross Inspections Division located in Ross in 2008, where I worked for about five years.

What did you do next?

I took a picture of the guitar string and sent a copy to Finley. Finley showed me the ticket from the fire marshal marked as Exhibit #12. I have to say that I was surprised the fire marshal did not investigate the lock and find what caused the doors not to open.

What was your response to losing your job?

I was worried about my reputation in the inspection community being severely damaged. And as result, I would have a challenging time finding work. So with that in mind, I decided to strike out on my own and started Hedley Inspection Services, LLC in August 2013.

Would you say the layout of Corley Theater matches Exhibit #6?

I would agree the layout I observed is like the one marked as Exhibit #6, although we all know it is not drawn to scale.

So, is Corley Theater compliant with The Ross Fire Code?

It is fair to say Corley Theater is technically compliant with the egress requirements of Ross's Fire Code. For that reason, it might appear at first glance that the theater did not pose any significant safety risks that might have contributed to the tragedy on October 26th. However, that is exactly wrong. A building's technical compliance with the Fire Code does not mean the building is necessarily safe. Technical compliance is never the ultimate goal when it comes to building safety. Rather, the Fire Code reflects a bare minimum and the requirements represent the ones without which a building becomes an obvious and unacceptable hazard.

Did you notice anything off about the doors?

Overall, it is a typical double door seen in most commercial buildings. There did not appear to be anything wrong with the doors themselves, so I knew I needed to take a closer look at the locking mechanism.

What is your occupation?

Professional Building inspector and building safety consultant - and actually I own my own business called Hedley Inspection Services, LLC. and routinly called in to be a expert witness for trials regarding building hazards, code violations, sloppy renovations, and lots of other comparable topics

What are the door requirements for a 500 person capacity?

Ross Fire Code section 201.9 provides that buildings with a capacity of 301-500 people are required to have at least two exits. Corley Theater has precisely two exits - one main interior stair case allowing exiting the building and one on the exterior side of the building.

What does the Ross Fire Code state about exits?

The Ross Fire Code is clear that all exit doors are supposed to be equipped with a locking device that does three things: (1) only locks when a building pass key is used, (2) automatically unlocks as soon as a building alarm sounds, and (3) automatically unlocks if the overhead water sprinkler system activates.

What was the consensus?

The clerk who took my call indicated the records could not be located and certainly no longer existed. I clarified that we were both talking about Corley Theater and confirmed we were talking about the right place. The clerk said Corley Theater must have had an exception since it was on the National Historic Registry. I could not believe what I was hearing. I was shocked to discover Corley Theater had not been inspected since at least the mid-1990s, which was as far back as Ross Inspections Divisions' records. I knew Corley Theater added the additional exit and side stairs in 2015 because it was the same time I added inspecting commercial buildings to my business. I do not know who failed to inspect Corley's addition. I would call it criminal to have no inspection records this long for a building with such a large occupancy limit and that is consistently in use!

Are these the doors? *Exhibit #10*

The double doors are pictured in Exhibit #10.

How would you say your data collected measured?

The facts and data I gathered were more than sufficient for my analysis and are of the type that a building inspector or safety consultant would normally use in this sort of analysis.

What was your final analysis of Corley Theater?

The facts are that the Corley Theater barely met code. All it would take is one person to yell fire in a crowded theater and panic would wreak havoc on a safe evacuation. Add in a malfunctioning door and there is a recipe for disaster, which is what happened on October 26, 2019. All my findings can be found in my building inspection report, marked as Exhibit #13.

What was the first step of your inspection?

The first step in my analysis was to review Corley Theater's past inspection records at the Ross Inspections Division. I called Ross Inspections Division on the same day of being hired in order to request copies of all of Corley Theater's prior inspection records, which are public documents. I not only know this because I am a building inspector but also because I worked at Ross Inspection Division and I know the records are maintained during regular inspections all around the county.

Was there anything else that stuck out to you?

There was one more thing from my visit to Corley Theater that was peculiar. I understood the theater's side exit somehow became locked during the stampede, which led to the crowd crushing toward the only other available exit, and which could have caused the trampling that led to the fatality. Naturally, I wanted to know more about that particular exit, so I asked my "tour guide"- Finley Fusco - if I could have a tour of the theater in order to inspect the side exit doors in question as well as its locking mechanism.

What were the terms of your employment as a retainer?

They hired me to evaluate Corley Theater for code violations and other safety hazards. If the building was unsafe or if some dangerous condition existed somewhere in the theater, it could be the real reason for the tragedy taking place.

What was your reaction?

To be honest, I had no idea what to make of it, but since I was conducting my analysis almost a week after the stampede itself, it seemed clear that it was the guitar string that had caused the door to jam. Once the guitar string was removed, the double doors opened without issue.

How did you determine the capacity of a building like Corley Theater?

To determine the capacity of a building, a building inspector must first calculate its occupant load, which refers to the maximum number of people fitting inside the space while leaving no less than seven square feet of floor space per occupant.

How did you lose your job at the Ross Inspection Division?

Unfortunately, my job with the county hit a bit of a snag in May of 2013 when I accidentally overlooked a couple of critical details of an annual inspection of Ross County's terrible old courthouse. My supervisor caught the error, but the mistake cost me my job. It seemed silly to me at the time since they were building an entirely new courthouse across the street and the old one would get torn down. Either way, I sure learned my lesson about attention to detail.

what did you do after earning your masters?

Well after earning my master's, I took South Carolina's version of the National Home Inspector Exam in January 2008, which passed on my second try. Ever since then, I have been working as a licensed building inspector and consultant here in Ross. I regularly publish articles on building safety issues

What did you see once you entered the Theater?

When I arrived and saw the inside layout, I was immediately certain that I would find something unsafe about the building. The fact that a large, two-story event space had only two exits seemed shocking to me

You met with Mr. Finley Fusco, the venue manager at Corley Theater correct?

Yes I met with Mr. Fusco.