Ghost Ship defendants enter not guilty pleas; trial this summer
Almena, Harris charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in deaths of those attending dance party
OAKLAND >> More than a year after a deadly fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse killed 36 people, Derick Almena and Max Harris, the only people criminally charged in the tragic case, pleaded not guilty and learned they will stand trial this summer.
The former warehouse tenants each are charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of 36 people attending an electronic dance party the night of Dec. 2, 2016, at the East Oakland arts collective known as the Ghost Ship or Satya Yuga. Almena and Harris entered not guilty pleas Tuesday at the Rene C. Davidson courthouse in Oakland before Judge Morris Jacobson. Harris, his once dyed blue hair grown out now to his natural brown, appeared in his red-and-white jail clothes as he spoke with his attorney. Almena, the collective’s master tenant, was not visible from the courtroom gallery.
A trial date was set for July 16, when the two men will face a jury over charges that they ignored fire codes and obvious safety controls at the warehouse, which contained a warren of illegally constructed lofts and rooms and elec-
tricity powered by a mass of extension cords. The inside was filled with furniture, rugs art and musical instruments, and the labryinth-like interior and thick smoke made it impossible for many guests on the second floor to find their way down make-shift stairs to poorly marked exits. Almena and his family lived at Ghost Ship but stayed in a hotel that night because of the party. Harris was there and served as the doorman.
No one else, including warehouse owner Chor Ng and her adult children who acted as property managers, were criminally charged. The men were held to answer on all 36 counts each in December 2017, following an emotionally-charged preliminary hearing attended by family and friends of the victims.
Almena’s attorney Tony Serra, during his closing arguments at the December hearing, pushed back against blame.
“How can they say my client is negligent when they don’t even know how the fire started?” Serra said. “The city sitting on its hands was far more culpable than my client.”
Serra repeated on Tuesday that there was never a confirmed cause of the fire — of how and where it started in the warehouse. He also pointed out that fire inspectors, Child Protective Services and law enforcement made inspections of the warehouse well before the fire, and “all looked the other way.”
“Everyone saw what was in there, saw it was occupied … they thought it was awesome, it was beautiful,” Serra said.
Records show Oakland police, firefighters and building inspectors visited the warehouse for a variety of reasons before the December inferno, sometimes going inside the cluttered collective.
A 50-page Oakland Fire Department report released in March 2017 could not determine the cause of the fire but investigators believe it was electrical in nature.
Harris’ attorney Curtis Briggs made a similar point Tuesday, saying, “If the Ghost Ship tragedy is a crime, it’s the city of Oakland that committed that crime.”
He reiterated that his client has been a scapegoat for the tragedy.
“What this prosecution has become is simply an opportunity for them to run from the truth,” Briggs said.
He said his client was nothing more than a resident who lived there, who is now “fighting for his life, in a different sense” and feels that a jury is going to feel that.
The next court date in the case will be March 21 for motion to reduce bail for each defendant. Briggs is asking that his client be released on his own recognizance. Serra cited a new case that leaves him feeling “very optimistic” for his client.
In April, both Serra and Briggs said they plan to file a motion to dismiss charges and ask a different judge to look at the record from the preliminary hearing and see if the case should move forward.
At December’s hearing, prosecutor Autrey James argued that Almena, on his own, changed the use of the building from warehouse industrial use and allowed upwards of 25 people to live there. Almena changed the space, including building a staircase, and cutting a large hole in the second floor, all without proper permits, he said.
During testimony, at least one witness who was asked by Almena for estimates on construction work called the space a “death trap.” He said Almena allegedly joked that he should call the art collective “the Sutya Yuga death trap.” Another witness, hired for electrical work, called the place a “fire hazard.”
The Ngs, the city of Oakland, Almena and his wife, Micah Allison, and party promoter and DJs have been sued by several families of the victims.