Arts collective founder to get 9 years for fire that killed 36

Plea deal averts third trial over 2016 Oakland blaze

The founder of the Oakland arts collective that became the site of one of the deadliest fires in California history will receive a plea deal in which he will serve fewer than 10 years in prison, ending a yearslong legal saga that followed the deaths of 36 people inside the Ghost Ship warehouse.

Relatives of the victims were told Wednesday morning that Derrick Almena will be sentenced to nine years in state prison instead of facing a third trial on 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter, according to two relatives of victims who lost their lives in the 2016 blaze.

Prosecutors had accused Almena of extreme negligence, arguing he turned the bare-bones East Oakland warehouse into a death trap through a series of illegal construction projects and shoddy electrical work. The structure was filled with pianos, tapestries, furniture and other items that acted as kindling when the blaze broke out during a concert.

There were nearly 100 people inside at the time, and prosecutors said Almena’s co-defendant, “creative director” Max Harris, had closed off one of only two exit routes, forcing victims fleeing the fire to navigate a rickety staircase made of wooden pallets.

Almena and Harris were arrested in 2017. The pair first stood trial in 2018, but a negotiated plea deal was thrown out by an Alameda County Superior Court judge after several of the victims’ relatives argued the sentence was too light.

A 2019 ended with Harris being acquitted of all charges. But only 10 jurors voted to convict Almena, resulting in a mistrial.