Deals reached in deadly Ghost Ship fire
Almena, Harris plead no contest to 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter, effectively ending the case
OAKLAND >> It took 30 excruciating minutes.
One by one, Judge Morris Jacobson read each of the three dozen involuntary manslaughter charges against Derick Almena and Max Harris and accepted their barely audible pleadings of “no contest.” One by one, the judge read the names of the 36 dead artists, DJs, sound engineers and lovers who perished in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire.
As he read Count 29, involuntary manslaughter resulting in the death of Michela Angelina Gregory, Maria Vega reached forward to the row in front of her and gently placed her hand on the shoulder of the 20-year-old college student’s mother, Kimberly Gregory, who sat crying quietly into tissues. Vega’s son Alex was dating Michela, and the pair had gone to the Fruitvale warehouse Dec. 2, 2016, to dance together.
Outside the courtroom, David Gregory, father of Michela, was asked if he thought justice was served. He responded: “No, it’s not enough.” His wife added, “Not at all.”
“We just wanted some fair justice,” he said, saying he would have preferred to go to trial.
There were few satisfied people in the Oakland courthouse on Tuesday. A year and a half after 36 people died inside the Ghost Ship warehouse, and days before a trial was to begin for the two defendants, Almena and Harris reached plea deals that would allow one to likely walk out of jail in 2020. They both faced spending the rest of their lives in state prison had they been convicted by a jury on all charges.
Almena, 48, one of the founders of the artist collective, received nine years, while Harris, 28, his second-in-command, received six years. Both will continue serving their time in Alameda County jail, where they have been in custody for more than a year. Almena could get out in 3½ years and Harris in 23 months with time served and good behavior, their attorneys said.
Both men spoke softly in court, answering numerous questions from the judge. Almena, noticeably heavier than his warehouse days, wore a red jail jumpsuit, his black, curly hair dropping to below his shoulders. Harris, in a red-and-white striped jail jumpsuit, tied his graying hair in a bun.
After the hearing, Tony Serra, attorney for Almena, spoke to a throng of reporters and said his client entered this plea not out of legal necessity.
“This is a plea that’s been entered into as a moral imperative to eliminate all of the drama and pain and suffering that everyone that touches this case endures,” Serra said. “It’s an
act from my perspective of ethics and morality from my client.”
Harris’ attorney Curtis Briggs said Ghost Ship’s legacy will spread the blame to the city of Oakland, its inadequate housing, lack of inspections and bureaucratic ineptitude.
“The city of Oakland botched the entire situation,” Briggs said. Harris even plans to assist victim families who are suing the city and other defendants in a civil case over the deadly fire, his attorneys said.
“Today’s a bittersweet day,” he said. “Max will be able to move forward, but the families will also be able to move forward toward getting healing,” Briggs added.
The pleas were connected. Both men had to accept the terms or neither deal would be permitted.
Autrey James, an Alameda County deputy district attorney who helped prosecute the case, became emotional in his comments to reporters after the hearing, reading a prepared statement as victims’ families huddled to hear him speak.
“They took responsibility for the crime of involuntary manslaughter, which means they acted negligently in running that building known as the Ghost Ship on Dec. 2, 2016, and in the months and years leading up to that,” he said, his voice breaking throughout his short statement. He said the DA’s office worked with families throughout the process, and “as you can imagine, it was not easy for the families, or attorneys involved.”
About a dozen family members, some wearing pins embossed with their loved one’s photo, left without speaking to the media. Many plan to speak during a two-day sentencing hearing Aug. 9 and 10, where they can address the defendants. The defendants also plan to have loved ones speak on their behalf at that hearing, their attorneys said.
Mary Alexander, who represents 11 of the victim families in a civil case, said Tuesday it was a hard day for the surviving relatives, especially when the names
were read aloud in court.
“Today is a day that families have some small sense of justice to have these defendants
held accountable criminally. For them to have been told by a judge that they are guilty of 36 deaths of beautiful young people,” she said. “People who had every gift but the gift of time.”
In an email to victim families obtained by Bay Area News Group, lead prosecutor David Lim explained why his office decided to accept plea deals rather than go trial July 16. Lim wrote that while Almena and Harris could get a longer sentence if the case went before a jury, there also is a chance the jury could acquit them or a judge could give them probation with no time served in jail.
A jury trial was expected to last four to six months, “with every detail of Dec. 2 presented as evidence in shocking detail,” Lim wrote.
“This would include making public disturbing photos of the victims. While we would be willing to do that for the possibility of a higher sentence for the defendants, the current plea bargain is within the range of what we think a judge would sentence the defendants to after a jury trial, and it spares families from having to re-live the tragedy of Dec. 2,” Lim wrote.
Families of Ghost Ship victims maintain hope that the ongoing civil cases could provide additional closure, including tying responsibility to others, such as warehouse owner Chor Ng and city officials. That case is not scheduled to begin until October 2019.
In past interviews, District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said she did not expect any criminal charges for other people unless new evidence appears.