Anger, tears as families speak at warehouse fire sentencing
OAKLAND — Palpable anger, deep sadness and tense moments swept a California courtroom Thursday as relatives of three dozen partygoers who died in a 2016 Oakland warehouse fire testified about their losses and slammed a plea deal for two men charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The hearing will last through Friday, when Judge James Cramer formally sentenced the pair who each pleaded no contest to 36 charges of involuntary manslaughter for the Dec. 2, 2016, fire at the warehouse known as the Ghost Ship.
In exchange for their pleas, Derick Almena, who rented the warehouse and is accused of illegally converting it into housing and entertainment space, agreed to a nine-year prison sentence, and Max Harris, who collected rent and scheduled concerts, agreed to a sixyear term.
Several of the relatives who testified Thursday said they were upset with the plea deals.
“The city of Oakland should be held accountable” for failing to inspect and shut down the warehouse, Colleen Dolan said. She showed a photo of her smiling 33-year-old daughter, Chelsea Dolan, taken a few weeks before her death.
But when Dolan tried to display a coroner’s photo of her daughter’s charred body, Cramer gently interrupted her and said he had previously seen it.
“I had to kiss that burned body goodbye,” said Dolan, agreeing to comply. “I am angry and bereft.”
Moments later, Cramer politely interrupted Paul Matiasic, an attorney reading a statement by Sami Long Koppelman, whose 34-year-old son, Edmond William Lapine, was killed.
Mataiasic asked the judge rhetorically if he had lost a child.
“Yes, I have,” Cramer said with a sad smile. “Just so you know.”
Many relatives who spent the day crying and dabbing their eyes audibly gasped. The judge did not elaborate.
Cyrus Hoda, the brother of fire victim Sarah Hoda, 30, said the plea bargain smacked of a “sweetheart deal” and labeled Almena and Harris as “culture vultures” trying to become San Francisco Bay Area arts players by luring people to a dangerous place to live and party.