Trial For Ghost Ship Defendants Likely To Begin In Early 2019
OAKLAND (CBS SF) – A jury trial for the two defendants charged with involuntary manslaughter in Oakland's deadly 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire will likely be held in early 2019, the men's attorneys said after a brief hearing Friday morning in Alameda County Superior Court.
In addition, Tony Serra, an attorney for defendant Derick Almena, requested a hearing for a change of venue, saying his client has suffered "character assassination" in Oakland in the press and from victims' families and will not be able to get a fair hearing in Alameda County.
"I'm very hopeful my change-of-venue motion will be granted," Serra said, blaming a plea agreement offered by District Attorney Nancy O'Malley and rejected by a judge earlier this week for adding to the negative publicity.
"I never wanted to avoid a jury trial in the first place," Serra said. "We were given a package offer, and it was the pragmatic thing to do at the time. But because of that, my client took the stand and said he was guilty five times. I'm not happy to go to trial after all the bad publicity my client has received."
The change of venue hearing was set for Nov. 2 by Alameda County Superior Court Judge James Cramer.
Curtis Briggs, attorney for defendant Max Harris, also hopes to win a separate trial for his client.
"We now have the opportunity to prove Max Harris is innocent," Briggs said. "We'll now focus our investigation on the incompetence level of public officials."
The lawyers put the blame on the landlord and the city of Oakland for ignoring obvious fire code violations.
"This case is a landmark case. This case could trigger significant reform," said Briggs.
Almena was the Ghost Ship warehouse's master tenant before the December 2016 fire that destroyed the warehouse-turned-artists' space in the city's Fruitvale neighborhood, killing 36 people inside who had come for a concert. Harris was the Ghost Ship's creative director.
Under the plea deal, Almena would have been sentenced to nine years in jail, and Harris to six years. But Judge Cramer said at the Aug. 10 hearing that he didn't feel Almena had expressed sufficient remorse for what had happened at the warehouse. Cramer said the plea deal was for both men, and that rejecting it for one of them would be rejecting it for the other.
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