No criminal charges over Berkeley balcony collapse

The US district attorney who investigated the Berkeley balcony collapse in which five Irish students and one Irish American woman died has decided against bringing criminal charges.

Nancy E O’Malley said it was not a decision that she came to lightly, but that after a nine-month investigation, there remained “insufficient evidence to bring criminal manslaughter charges against any one individual or company”. Ms O’Malley communicated her decision to the victims’ families before making it public.

Five of the six deceased were Irish students working in California on J1 visas and all were aged 21.