Defense witness’ talk of arson challenged

A government agent contradicted a key defense witness’ testimony in the Ghost Ship trial on Monday, saying that the witness never told investigators that he saw or heard people fighting or bottles being broken moments before the deadly 2016 fire in the Oakland warehouse.

Prosecutors used the testimony of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Whitney Hameth to attempt to undermine the defense’s assertion that the blaze was caused by a group of people who threw Molotov cocktails inside the space.

Hameth said Darold Leite, who lived in the warehouse’s back lot, never said in his interviews with ATF that he saw a group of people in dark clothing run from the warehouse or that he heard people fighting. Leite took the stand in the trial last week and said he heard a fight and what sounded like bottles breaking — supporting the defense’s account that the blaze was set by arsonists and that popping glass sounded

like Molotov cocktails.

Leite was interviewed by ATF on Dec. 3 and Dec. 5, 2016, days after the fire broke out on Dec. 2 during an electronic music party in the warehouse, killing 36 people.

“Did he ever indicate to you he saw a group of people in dark clothes run from the side of the door?” asked Casey Bates, the prosecutor. “No,” Hameth said. “Did he ever indicate to you that heard sounds of a fight?” Bates asked. “No,” Hameth said. Derick Almena, 49, who leased the warehouse from the property owner and allowed it to be used for the music party the night of the fire, and his codefendant, Max Harris, 29, each face three dozen charges of involuntary manslaughter, one for each life lost in the fire. Harris is described as Almena’s secondincommand at the warehouse.

Both men sat in the courtroom Monday. Harris, dressed in a dark red shirt and pants with a black suit jacket, occasionally looked at a woman sitting in the court gallery and smiled. Almena, in a dark suit jacket and white shirt, kept his eyes down.

Ivania Chavarria, the mother of Brandon Chase Wittenauer, one of the victims, said outside the courthouse Monday that the testimony showed that Leite was “lying for Almena.”

“It’s very sad that people are willing to lie ... over 36 people dead — innocent kids that went to an event,” she said.

“It’s very hard for somebody that has lost their child, who burned alive. It’s very extremely hard. But our children are not here to (get) justice,” she added.

The first rebuttal witness, Oakland police Officer Michael Erickson, sat on the stand while prosecutors played his body camera footage from Sept. 26, 2014, in which Erickson spoke with Almena outside the warehouse after a couch caught fire on the street.

Erickson said no fire chief or police chief was at the scene while he was there — in what appeared to be the prosecution’s attempt to address the testimony by Almena’s wife that she saw Almena giving fire investigators a tour of the space after someone set a couch on fire outside the warehouse.

The third witness, Paul Balzouman, an inspector with the district attorney’s office who interviewed Harris in Los Angeles after his arrest in June 2017, said Harris had told him he ran back into the warehouse during the fire to grab his laptop. In trial testimony last month, Harris said he had run back in to grab his cell phone and light the way for 10 people to run to safety. Balzouman said Harris hadn’t mentioned the cell phone to him, only the laptop.

The warehouse was crammed with motor homes, antiques and artwork. Rooms were partitioned with tapestries, pianos and old windows, creating a labyrinth for those unfamiliar with the space. A makeshift staircase fashioned out of old wood and pallets led to the second floor, and there were few safety features.

Federal investigators have never determined a cause of the blaze, but one testified in a preliminary hearing that she believes it was from electrical issues.

Defense attorneys have argued that police, firefighters and child service workers all toured the warehouse before the fire and failed to report it for dangerous conditions.

The prosecution will present two more rebuttal witnesses Tuesday. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin July 29.