Judge accepts plea deal in Ghost Ship fire case
Almena, master tenant of warehouse, won’t have to return to Santa Rita Jail
OAKLAND >> Despite emotional testimony that revealed the raw pain that families of 36 people who perished in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire during a dance party still feel, a judge on Monday accepted a plea deal that would allow the man held responsible for the deaths to remain out of jail.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson sentenced Derick Almena to 12 years, but because he already served roughly four years behind bars and gets credit for good behavior, he won’t have to return to Santa Rita Jail. Instead, Almena will spend the next 1 1/2 years at home with an ankle monitor.
In explaining her decision to accept the plea deal, Thompson said the coronavirus pandemic makes it difficult to impanel a jury this year to retry Almena on 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter and that travel restrictions would hamper witnesses from getting to court.
“This case has probably been one of the most overwhelming experiences I, as a jurist, have ever had. … This one haunts me on a regular basis,” Thompson said.
Acknowledging the pain and loss the fire victims’ families feel, she added, “I wish I could in the stroke of a pen take away your deep loss and your sadness.”
Almena issued a statement through his attorney
Tony Serra. “I am sorry … I am sick with shame . ... My shame cannot stand as any defense against what I am responsible for. It is my fault, my terrible accumulation of error, that shaped and built a place so dangerous.”
Almena said his “stupidity” and “reckless actions” fueled the deaths of 36 people.
District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, whose office has been criticized by the victims’ families for reaching a plea deal with Almena’s attorneys they considered much too lenient, issued a statement after the sentencing.
“Thirty-five out of the thirty-six people who lost their lives in this tragic fire were attending a concert that night. They had no idea just how dangerous the building really was,” O’Malley said. “They went to the Ghost Ship with the expectation of being entertained and returning safely home.
“Although this case is now resolved, those who tragically lost their lives that night will be remembered and mourned forever,” she added.
At one point during Monday’s sentencing hearing, the mother of Chelsea Faith Dolan, who died in the Dec. 2, 2016, fire, cursed Almena.
“May you Derick Almena take on the visions that I see each day and feel the pain of my nightmares,” Colleen Dolan said after initially struggling to speak. “My hope is that in giving these visions to you I may be free. I curse you with the intense burning heat and flames that scorch all the hair from your body and that peel the skin away from your face. I curse you with the choking smoke saturating your lungs until they bubble and blister and foam oozes from your mouth and nose. I curse you with the pain in the bones and muscles that comes from clenching in fear as you face the fury of a firestorm coming to consume you.”
Almena, 50, who was the master tenant of the Ghost Ship warehouse and allowed an artists collective to illegally live inside the old building filled with junk and random furniture, pleaded guilty in January to 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter.
In addition to expressing their grief over the loss of their loved ones, many of the victims’ family members who spoke during Monday’s sentencing hearing ripped the plea deal as being much too light.
“I am repulsed by this plea agreement. … You do not even comprehend the sorrow we feel,” said Keith Slocum, stepfather of victim Donna Kellogg.
Sami Kopelman, mother of Edmond Lapine, implored the judge to toss the plea deal and give Almena a harsher sentence. She also asked Thompson to prohibit him from ever profiting off the Ghost Ship tragedy through TV or book deals, a concern other family members also expressed. Thompson said that as a criminal judge she doesn’t have that authority. Andy Kershaw, the husband of victim Amanda Kershaw, told Almena in a statement: “Dear Derick, my wife burned to death in your house. She experienced literally the worst kind of death I can imagine, choking on smoke from burning junk,” he said.
Emilie Grandchamps said she was “mortally” wounded the day she lost her son Alex Ghassan, the father of two young girls. “Do I want revenge? It depends on the day and the time.”
She asked that people be held accountable for their actions and words, including the warehouse’s owners and city agencies that are supposed to enforce regulations, and “that people that put others’ lives in safety and jeopardy are truly punished when the worst happens.
“I often ask, why was my son given a death sentence for being in the wrong place and at the wrong time and those responsible for his and 35 others’ death are given a second chance at life? I want my son’s death not to go in vain,” she said.
During the afternoon hearing, Thompson called a break after noticing that Almena seemed to be “nodding off” and making “jerky” motions in court. Thompson asked Serra if his client had taken any drugs. “It’s not an issue of drugs, your honor, it’s an issue of pain,” Serra said, noting that Almena is “overcome” with emotion. After a courtroom deputy searched Almena and found no drugs, the hearing resumed.
Following a four-month trial in 2019, a jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting Almena and found then-co-defendant Max Harris not guilty. Almena was supposed to face a retrial this year until the plea deal was announced in January.
Monday’s sentencing was conducted mostly virtually; only Almena, his attorneys, prosecutors and other court staff were allowed inside the courtroom at the Rene C. Davidson courthouse.