Good post SASless.
But...the lawyers will ask:
"...given the same aircraft fault, was there any way a crew could have operated this aircraft to avoid the catastophic crash?"
It may not be pilot error per se.
And IF there was an "ideal sequence of events" that could have been carried out by a crew in order to avoid the eventual crash, it comes down to the degree by which this operating crew deviated from the "ideal sequence of events".
If the majority of reasonable pilots would have largely mirrored the actions of the crash crew, they should be vindicated. If the majority of resonable pilots would have done something differently, then there may be a case to answer.
It's a tough one, but ultimately the aim should be not punishment of crews, but improvement in the way things are done.