Trial in Fatal CA Ghost Ship Fire Begins

OAKLAND, CA — After weathering six judges, a long preliminary hearing, a botched plea deal, countless legal motions and no shortage of emotional courtroom drama, the trial of two men held responsible for the deaths of 36 people in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire 2 1/2 years ago finally begins Tuesday.

Prosecutors are scheduled to deliver opening statements laying out their case against  Derick Almena, 49, and Max Harris, 29, who are charged with 36 counts each of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the Dec. 2, 2016, blaze at the warehouse in East Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood on 31st Avenue.

The defendants’ attorneys will follow with their own version of who’s to blame, and if their past statements are any indication, they’ll likely fault Oakland city officials for not stepping in to prevent the tragedy and the warehouse’s owners for allowing people to inhabit the building.

The opening statements at the Rene C. Davidson courthouse before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson are expected to last two days. Testimony is set to begin afterwards, and with a witness list of hundreds and 12,000 pages of discovery, the trial could take several months.

For families and friends of the victims, the time between the fire and the trial’s long-awaited arrival may have seemed like an eternity.

Some of them have trekked to the courthouse for everything from bail hearings to defense motions calling for the arrest of others to, most recently, a debate about what words can and can’t be used during the trial.

Supporters of defendant Max Harris, the “creative director” of Ghost Ship, also have come out in force. They have rallied for him outside of the courthouse in recent weeks while the jury was being picked, holding signs demanding “Free Max Harris.”

Last summer, it was announced that the two defendants would take plea deals to avoid a trial. Almena agreed to receive nine years and Harris six years in county jail. With time already served, and good behavior, both could have gotten out much sooner, however — Almena in less than four years and Harris in two.

Members of the victims’ families gave emotional accounts at the sentencing hearing in August about how deeply the loss of their loved ones affected them; some pleaded with the judge to reject the deal as too lenient.

Almena himself addressed the court: He stood up and told the families he should have perished with them. “If I could give each of you my life, and my children’s lives, I would,” he said.

Harris meanwhile apologized repeatedly and acknowledged that “words are empty.”

• RELATED: Judge: No More Arrests in CA Ghost Ship Case

In the end, Judge James Cramer rejected the plea deal after concluding Almena was not remorseful. Because it had been a package offer, Harris’ deal also fell through.

Jury selection began about two weeks ago.

Defense attorneys repeatedly have said Almena and Harris have been “scapegoats” in efforts to blame someone for the fire. They also have made it no secret that their defense will show that the city of Oakland and its fire and police departments are culpable for the deadly blaze.

As reported by this news organization, police body camera footage and other reports have shown that officers entered the Ghost Ship warehouse in the months and years before the fire. Among other things, they showed that firefighters who worked at a nearby station in East Oakland reportedly went inside the warehouse for a barbecue and were friendly with Almena, that the city knew people were living illegally there but did nothing about it.

Harris was present the night of the fire, working the door and taking money from those arriving at the dance party. When the fire broke out, he was said to have guided some people out, using the flashlight from his cellphone to help light the way. Almena and his family were not at the warehouse that night.

The prosecution must prove to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Almena and Harris were criminally negligent in their roles at the Ghost Ship warehouse that led to the fire. People lived inside the building — even though the warehouse was zoned for commercial use only — and it was filled from floor to ceiling with pianos, artwork, RVs and other flammable items, as well as a makeshift electrical system.

In the preliminary hearing in December 2017, prosecutors Autrey James and then-prosecutor David Lim asked witnesses whether the warehouse had visible exit signs, lighted pathways, a sprinkler system or smoke alarms. The answers were no.

The 36 victims were trapped on the second floor where the dance party took place, unable to escape from either the staircase in the front of the warehouse facing 31st Avenue or the back staircase.

The prosecution has indicated that the back stairwell appears to have been blocked. However, a blown-up screen, used to display images or music videos, was blocking the kitchen, not the staircase, testified Aaron Marin during the preliminary hearing. Marin was able to go down and up those back stairs after he noticed the smoke downstairs. He eventually escaped from the warehouse by pushing past the screen and climbing out of a second-story window in the kitchen area upstairs.

The front staircase was used by some to escape, including Jonathan Axtell, who described the harrowing trip down the makeshift steps in pitch darkness caused by the smoke as the fire raged. He used his cellphone to help light his path but could barely see the screen in the thick smoke, he testified.

At the end of the staircase on the first floor was a woman sitting in a wicker chair who screamed: “This is the will of the spirits of the forest.”

At least 100 witnesses are expected to testify during the trial. Included in the witness list is former Assistant Oakland Fire Marshal Maria Sabatini, who previously testified that the fire department figured the blaze originated in the northwest corner of the building, near the back. The dance party was on the second floor. Investigators, however, were never able to determine a cause.

Sabatini said investigators could not rule out candles, other open flames or arson as possible causes.

Almena himself also is expected to testify on his own behalf, according to his attorney, Tony Serra.

Not expected to testify are the warehouse’s landlords. Several weeks ago, siblings Eva and Kai Ng took the stand in a hearing to determine whether they should be forced to testify in the trial. But when asked questions by attorneys, they both pleaded the Fifth.

During the trial, families and other supporters will not be allowed to wear shirts or hold up any signs for or against the victims or defendants, the judge ordered. The typical “rest in peace” shirts or buttons often worn in the Alameda County courthouses by families also are banned, as they could distract the jury, according to the judge.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors were prohibited by Judge Thompson from talking to media in recent weeks leading up to the trial. That ban was lifted Monday after the 12-person jury was selected.

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