Ghost Ship trial: Co-defendants’ legal teams disagree on whether to postpone
An Alameda County Superior Court judge will decide whether to postpone the trial of two men charged in the deaths of 36 people in the 2016 Ghost Ship fire — the deadliest blaze in Oakland history.
The trial is scheduled to start July 16, but defendant Max Harris’ attorneys asked that it be delayed until September or later to allow preparation time with expert witnesses.
Defense attorney Curtis Briggs wants to bring in forensic experts to expose flaws in the fire investigation.
“We plan on defending Mr. Harris by using a team of experts that we have recently retained, who will decimate any argument put together by the prosecution,” Briggs said after the hearing.
Thursday’s hearing marked the first time the co-defendants’ legal teams were at odds with one another. Derick Almena’s defense attorney, Tony Serra, will argue against postponement.
Judge James Cramer set a hearing for June 7 to decide the matter.
Outside the courtroom, Serra said both defendants should have been released from jail before their trial. Serra said his client hasn’t fared well in jail, and wants the case to be resolved as soon as possible.
Almena spent weeks on suicide watch, gained about 50 pounds and is on antidepressants, Serra added.
“Obviously, the longer you postpone it, the more they will suffer,” Serra said.
Earlier in the morning, a judge across the hallway denied a motion to lower Harris’ bail. Briggs had asked for his client to be released on his own recognizance until the trial, with the condition that he wear an ankle monitor and live in a halfway house.
Harris and Almena are each being held on a $750,000 bond. Both bonds were already lowered once, from $1.08 million.
Judge Kevin Murphy cited a looming state Supreme Court case as grounds for his denial. On Wednesday, the court granted a request to review California judges’ authority on how they set bail for pretrial defendants. The decision set aside an appellate court ruling, which mandated that a judge consider a person’s financial status when determining whether to require payment for pretrial release from jail.
Briggs had based his argument to lower bond on the appellate decision.
Almena, 48, master tenant of the Ghost Ship warehouse, and Harris, 28, the art space’s creative director, are both charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter. They each face up to 39 years in prison if convicted.
The Dec. 2, 2016, fire broke out during a music event in the warehouse on 31st Avenue in the Fruitvale section of Oakland. The building had illegally been converted into an artists collective, where tenants were both working and living.
The charges are the result of a six-month investigation that began the night of the fire. Most of the victims were trapped on the second floor as flames and smoke engulfed the building.
Investigators have not determined a cause for the fire but said the warehouse was full of highly flammable materials, including tapestries on the walls and a makeshift stairway made of wooden pallets. A tangle of electrical wires that snaked through the building was fed from a power source in a neighboring auto-repair shop.