Defendant in Ghost Ship fire freed from jail to await retrial
Derick Almena, the lone remaining defendant charged in the deaths of 36 people killed in Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire, has been released from Santa Rita Jail on $150,000 bail.
Almena, 50, has remained behind bars as prosecutors prepared to retry him after last year’s fivemonth trial. While the jury deadlocked on a verdict for Almena, the panel on Sept. 5 acquitted his codefendant, Max Harris, who walked out of the Dublin jail that evening.
Both men faced up to 39 years in prison if convicted of all charges stemming from the inferno Dec. 2, 2016, during an electronic music party in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood. Each was charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter for every person who died in the blaze.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson indicated last month that she was willing to release Almena while he awaited the next trial, and to place him in a community monitoring program.
Thompson’s statement came days after California judicial leaders eliminated bail for defendants charged with misdemeanors and most nonviolent felonies, in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus behind bars.
While Thompson didn’t release Almena outright, she did lower his bail from $750,000 to
$150,000. Thompson has since placed a gag order in the case, meaning neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys were able to comment on Almena’s release on Monday.
Online jail records indicate that Almena was no longer in custody shortly before 4 p.m., and the Alameda County Sheriff ’s Office confirmed the release on the department’s official Twitter page shortly thereafter.
Almena, who was the artist collective’s master tenant, had been incarcerated for nearly three years, ever since his June 2017 arrest.
Prosecutors during last year’s trial painted Almena as arrogant and reckless, and introduced witnesses who testified that he had scoffed at suggestions to bring the warehouse up to fire code. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, placed blame on city officials, saying they had plenty of opportunities to shut down the operation if they believed it was dangerous.
After weighing a verdict for over a month, jurors ultimately found Harris not guilty, while only 10 of the 12 jurors could agree Almena was guilty of negligence in turning the warehouse into a deadly firetrap.
A new trial was originally scheduled for April but, because of coronavirus concerns, has been postponed until July 6.