Trial in Deadly Northern California Warehouse Fire Wraps up

The trial against two men arrested after a deadly warehouse fire in the San Francisco Bay Area is wrapping up.

Prosecutors began closing arguments Monday against Derick Almena and Max Harris, both charged with involuntary manslaughter after the December 2016 fire at the so-called Ghost Ship warehouse killed 36 people.

They’re accused of illegally converting the industrial building into an artist live-work space and stuffing it with highly combustible materials that trapped those trying to escape the blaze.

Prosecutors said Almena sublet the space to other artists and failed to provide smoke detectors, fire alarms or a fire suppression system. Harris, 29, is accused of helping Almena convert the warehouse, collect rent and schedule concerts there.

Federal fire officials traced the origin of the fire to a back corner of the ground floor of the warehouse but did not determine a cause.

During trial, the men’s attorneys raised the possibility it was caused by arsonists and argued that others shared the blame for the fire, including the city of Oakland, its fire department and the warehouse’s landlord.

Almena testified that he did not rent the warehouse with the intention of moving in, but he said he could not prevent artists from sleeping there. He eventually moved his wife and their three children in.

Harris described the Ghost Ship as a free-floating artist enclave where everybody furnished the space as they saw fit and rejected prosecutors’ characterization that it was a “death trap.”

The men also testified that officials with the police and fire departments, as well as child welfare officials, had entered the warehouse on various occasions and didn’t raise concerns about the fire hazards.

Almena and Harris have also been named in lawsuits from victims’ families alleging that Oakland’s fire and building departments failed to inspect the warehouse annually as required. The lawsuits say inspectors would have discovered the illegal conversions.

The owners of the building were also named in the lawsuit and have not spoken about the fire.

Almena and Harris were set to be sentenced to nine and six years in prison, respectively, after pleading no contest to manslaughter last year, but a judge threw out their pleas after many of the victims’ families objected to their proposed sentences as too lenient.

The case could be in the hands of a jury by early August.

Related:

• California Warehouse Fire Defendant Says No One Was in Charge
• Plea Deal Reached in California Warehouse Fire
• Suspect in Deadly Oakland Warehouse Fire Says Landlord Also Responsible

Topics California