GUILTY CA - Massive fire at Oakland warehouse party, 36 dead, 2 Dec 2016 #3

[borndem]

“We are not here because Max Harris is a horrible person,” James said. “On December 2, 2016, a mistake was made that cost the lives of 36 people.”

bbm
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/07...uspect-max-harris-to-appear-in-oakland-court/

mis·take məˈstāk/

noun
noun: mistake; plural noun: mistakes

• 1.
  an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong.
  
  "coming here was a mistake"
  [TABLE="class: vk_tbl vk_gy"]
  [TR]
  [TD="class: lr_dct_nyms_ttl"]synonyms:[/TD]
  [TD]error, fault, inaccuracy, omission, slip, blunder, miscalculation, misunderstanding, oversight, misinterpretation, gaffe, faux pas, solecism; Moreslip of the tongue, eggcorn;
  informalslip-up, boo-boo, blooper, boner, goof, flub
  "I assumed it had been a mistake"
  go wrong, err, make an error, blunder, miscalculate;
  informalslip up, make a boo-boo, drop the ball, goof (up)
  "he admits he's made a mistake"
  
  [/TD]
  [/TR]
  [/TABLE]
• something, especially a word, figure, or fact, that is not correct; an inaccuracy.
  • "a couple of spelling mistakes"

https://www.google.com/search?safe=...1.1.64.psy-ab..2.7.907.0..0i131k1._kp7LWllHWA

-------------------------------------------------------------------
​

Yep, Mr. Defense Attorney, that's all it was. Just a mistake...

Damn.

 

[borndem]

I just stumbled onto this -- I check this case from time to time & have never seen this... it's from May, 2017, and it shows an interview with Derick "Ion," as he called himself during the interview, speaking about the smallish interior fire on Sept. 26, 2014. Lies and more lies. Arson, he calls it. Yeah, you bet.

FYI, and excuse if it's a repeat.

Exclusive video: Body-cam footage shows Ghost Ship operator lying to police
Early clues to Ghost Ship’s dangerous clutter missed
OAKLAND — Two years before 36 people died inside the Ghost Ship warehouse, master tenant Derick Almena told an Oakland police officer investigating an arson that he was hosting a “benefit” there the next day, which would have been illegal, and lied about living inside the artist collective, according to police body camera footage exclusively obtained by this news organization.
...
When asked for his name, Almena gave his first name and middle name of “Ion.” He tells them he’s the “lease holder” and gives them a bogus home address, saying he only works at the warehouse.
...
“I feel great,” Almena said.

“You’re happy?” Kane asks off camera.

“I’m happy,” Almena says, “because it could’ve been horrible.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/...enant-derick-almena-speaking-to-oakland-cops/

 

[MsMarple]

Judge Lowers Bail for Derick Almena

An Alameda County judge on Friday declined to release, but reduced the bail for a man charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with an Oakland warehouse fire that killed 36 people.

Judge Kevin Murphy said he decided against releasing 47-year-old Derick Almena on his own recognizance because the former leader of the Ghost Ship artists' collective might not return to court if he were let out.
...
"What did we get? $750,000 bail? From our perspective, that’s outrageus. He’s not a flight risk at any level," said Almena's lawyer, Tony Serra.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/loca...Ship-Warehouse-Fire-in-Oakland-438582523.html

Plea hearings have been postponed to Sept. 13. And goodwife Micah was emotional at the hearing, claiming Almena is a "family man." Yeah, right. :facepalm:

 

[Lilibet]

Has this been posted yet? It's several months old. Apologies if I missed it earlier.

Illegal apartments in SF were shut down in February. Authorities referenced the Ghost Ship fire. People were paying $1000/month for 150 square foot spaces under a laundromat. Some had lived there for a decade! It was called a "death trap." No kidding! It makes Ghost Ship look positively safe and sound.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/...aundromat-basement-where-2-dozen-11159737.php

The city is suing the building owner (Mendoza) and the former residents are also suing the landlord (Paredes). Both are blaming the residents. Will this be the defense Ion uses? Of course.

In a response to the tenants’ suit, Paredes’s attorneys claimed Paredes wasn’t liable for the living conditions in part because:

The plaintiffs so carelessly, recklessly, and negligently conducted and maintained themselves so as to cause and contribute in some degree to the alleged incident and to the damages and injuries, if any. [...] The plaintiffs, knowing the probable consequences thereof, placed themselves in a position of danger and freely and voluntarily participated.
​

In another response to the same suit, Mendoza’s attorneys echo the allegation that the tenants themselves were ultimately to blame, accusing them of “carelessness, negligence, and other wrongful conduct.”

https://sf.curbed.com/2017/8/23/16189950/excelsior-laundromat-dungeon-sf

 

[MsMarple]

Has this been posted yet? It's several months old. Apologies if I missed it earlier.

Illegal apartments in SF were shut down in February. Authorities referenced the Ghost Ship fire. People were paying $1000/month for 150 square foot spaces under a laundromat. Some had lived there for a decade! It was called a "death trap." No kidding! It makes Ghost Ship look positively safe and sound.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/...aundromat-basement-where-2-dozen-11159737.php

The city is suing the building owner (Mendoza) and the former residents are also suing the landlord (Paredes). Both are blaming the residents. Will this be the defense Ion uses? Of course.

In a response to the tenants’ suit, Paredes’s attorneys claimed Paredes wasn’t liable for the living conditions in part because:

The plaintiffs so carelessly, recklessly, and negligently conducted and maintained themselves so as to cause and contribute in some degree to the alleged incident and to the damages and injuries, if any. [...] The plaintiffs, knowing the probable consequences thereof, placed themselves in a position of danger and freely and voluntarily participated.
​

In another response to the same suit, Mendoza’s attorneys echo the allegation that the tenants themselves were ultimately to blame, accusing them of “carelessness, negligence, and other wrongful conduct.”

https://sf.curbed.com/2017/8/23/16189950/excelsior-laundromat-dungeon-sf

Thanks Lilibet! Ugh. And from another article:

Residents were living in “stark” conditions beneath the Clean Wash Center laundromat at 4680 Mission St., or 5 Persia Ave., for more than a decade, according to the City Attorney’s Office. The space had just one functioning shower, no hot water or windows and was previously vermin infested.

“The living conditions were not only appalling and illegal, they were extremely dangerous,” Herrera said in a statement. “These people were basically stuck in a dungeon. I don’t want to think about what would have happened if there had been a fire down there.”

Ernesto Paredes, the master tenant who allegedly rented the basement units for between $300 and $900 a month, is also named in the lawsuit.
...
The San Francisco Fire Department discovered the conditions on Christmas Day in 2016 while responding to a call at the laundromat.

After issuing notices of violation, fire officials ordered the building evacuated on Feb. 14 and put Mendoza and Paredes on the hook for $4,262 in relocation fees per unit, according to the City Attorney’s Office.

Mendoza declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sf-sues-landlord-laundromat-basement-rented-tenants/

Only one exit - 200 feet from the farthest unit. One functioning shower, no hot water, no windows, poor ventilation, rats. Exposed wires poking through the walls, extension cords powering fans and space heaters. Mendoza is being called a "slum lord." I agree; it's so like the story of the Ghostship.

I get that it's nearly impossible to find adequate housing in the Bay area. I get that people are willing to put themselves in harm's way in order to have a roof over their heads, but there has to be a better solution than stuffing people like sardines into a rat-infested death trap.

How is Mendoza, who also owns the laudromat, any better than Derick Almena? She was charging tenants between $300 and $900 a month to live there.

 

[Lilibet]

Thanks Lilibet! Ugh. And from another article:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sf-sues-landlord-laundromat-basement-rented-tenants/

Only one exit - 200 feet from the farthest unit. One functioning shower, no hot water, no windows, poor ventilation, rats. Exposed wires poking through the walls, extension cords powering fans and space heaters. Mendoza is being called a "slum lord." I agree; it's so like the story of the Ghostship.

I get that it's nearly impossible to find adequate housing in the Bay area. I get that people are willing to put themselves in harm's way in order to have a roof over their heads, but there has to be a better solution than stuffing people like sardines into a rat-infested death trap.

How is Mendoza, who also owns the laudromat, any better than Derick Almena? She was charging tenants between $300 and $900 a month to live there.

BBM

The only solution to the housing shortage that I can see is allowing single family homes to have garage apartments under very strict standards. But that requires more inspectors, etc. so it won't happen. Legal conversions of warehouses would also help for people who want to live in an artist's coop. But then it wouldn't be cheap rent anymore.

If it's even possible, I think that Mendoza and Paredes were worse than Almena, preying on more vulnerable people than he did. But he added to his greedy guilt by throwing parties upstairs where escape was almost impossible. They are all scum.
JMO

 

[Bird of Paradise]

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/09...uld-collect-more-than-3-million-in-insurance/

 

[Lilibet]

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/09...uld-collect-more-than-3-million-in-insurance/

And as a result of not being charged criminally, she can collect on her insurance, none of which will trickle down to the victims and families.

[FONT=&amp]Claims Adjusting Group has reserved $3.1 million to pay Chor Ng, who owns the Fruitvale District warehouse and adjacent properties, to cover her basic property loss and liability policy. The document indicates she has received more than $670,000 so far, likely to cover her attorney’s fees and facility security costs.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]However, Ng’s $6 million liability insurance maximum will likely never make its way to the dozens of victims suing her and other agencies for the deadly fire, one insurance expert says.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]“Everything will likely be exhausted long before they go to trial,” said Karl Susman, owner of Susman Insurance Agency and an insurance expert witness, who reviewed the Ng document. “And then she personally might declare bankruptcy.”

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/09...uld-collect-more-than-3-million-in-insurance/[/FONT]

 

[KaaBoom]

And as a result of not being charged criminally, she can collect on her insurance, none of which will trickle down to the victims and families.

[FONT=&]Claims Adjusting Group has reserved $3.1 million to pay Chor Ng, who owns the Fruitvale District warehouse and adjacent properties, to cover her basic property loss and liability policy. The document indicates she has received more than $670,000 so far, likely to cover her attorney’s fees and facility security costs.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]However, Ng’s $6 million liability insurance maximum will likely never make its way to the dozens of victims suing her and other agencies for the deadly fire, one insurance expert says.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]“Everything will likely be exhausted long before they go to trial,” said Karl Susman, owner of Susman Insurance Agency and an insurance expert witness, who reviewed the Ng document. “And then she personally might declare bankruptcy.”

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/09...uld-collect-more-than-3-million-in-insurance/[/FONT]

I don't really see a problem with this. It seems to me that she is as much a victim as anybody. The idiots who created the firetrap, burned down her building. She paid her insurance premiums, she should be compensated for her loss. I suppose you could fault her for not keeping better tabs on the property, but I doubt many landlords of warehouses would monitor what was being put inside their warehouse.

 

[Niner]

Came across this article from Sept. 27th:

http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Defendants-in-deadly-Ghost-Ship-fire-plead-not-12233258.php

Two men charged in a deadly blaze that broke out during an underground music event at Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 36 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter, paving the way for a preliminary hearing of the evidence in the case.

The defendants, Derick Almena, 47, and Max Harris, 27, briefly appeared in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland to enter their pleas. They remain in custody at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on $750,000 bond and face up to 39 years in prison each if convicted.

A preliminary hearing, in which a judge will decide whether there is enough evidence to send the case to a jury trial, was set for Nov. 13.

This one is going onto my list...

:judge:

Will there be a separate thread for the trial, or will we be keeping it here?? TIA!

 

[borndem]

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/09...uld-collect-more-than-3-million-in-insurance/

36 Wrongful Death Suits against her, perhaps???

 

[borndem]

Just saw this -- I don't think it has been posted here. Please forgive if it's a repeat.

Warning -- This is a tuff read -- not everyone should read it.

[h=1]Ghost Ship victims died huddled in rugs, says new Oakland fire report [/h][h=1][/h]THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 12:27 AM

...
It contains many previously unknown details about the nation’s deadliest structure fire in more than 14 years and says investigators could not determine the cause of the blaze because of extensive fire damage.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...led-rugs-new-oakland-report-article-1.3264242

 

[MsMarple]

Just saw this -- I don't think it has been posted here. Please forgive if it's a repeat.

Warning -- This is a tuff read -- not everyone should read it.



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...led-rugs-new-oakland-report-article-1.3264242

I'd have to go back and read the full report again but as far as I remember, it didn't state that victims huddled in rugs; it was more like they were found inside rugs on the first floor after the second floor had collapsed. IOW, they fell along with the rugs and maybe became entangled in the dozens of rugs on the floors and walls of the GS. I dunno. But I'm not all that sure about the New York Daily News report.

And to add, every time I think about that damned rickety staircase I get mad all over again at Almena's defense attorney claiming it was a properly constucted staircase. It wasn't. He ignored the first hand reports of how it was constructed at the bottom - pallets, and further up - a steep ramp.

I feel like the attorney is making stuff up because he can't really present a reasonable defense for Almena's and Harris' actions that night. Truth is they ignored the safety of the people in the warehouse. Period. While I'd like to see the owner get slapped with something IMO those two were hands on aware of the conditions in the warehouse. I do believe though that she was aware the GS was being used as a residential dwelling and it was unsafe.

Almena and his wife apparently had plans to construct an escape ladder - but they never followed through. I consider that evidence that both knew the GS was a fire trap.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Survivor-who-jumped-from-Ghost-Ship-window-10805005.php

Here's an interesting read on the warehouse both prior to and after Almena rented it. The good, the bad and the ugly. It's clear that many people spoke with Almena and Allison about the dangerous conditions and were promised there would be changes but they never happened. Almena and his henchman Harris both deserve the manslaughter charges!

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/What-life-was-like-for-Ghost-Ship-tenants-10788491.php

 

[borndem]

Thanks, MsMarple -- I, too, have found that sometimes the Daily News differs from other accounts we see on MSM. It makes good sense, with all those carpets and wall hangings, etc., etc., that it would indeed look like some of the victims were wrapped in them.

In addition to the "plans" Almena had for replacing the staircase, he also had "plans" to put more fire extinguishers in the dwellings. The Big Plan Man, he was. I hope the court of justice has big plans for him, the selfish, non-caring all-about-me, lying, good-fer-nuthin landlord.

 

[Niner]

Just :bump: this up for today's hearing!

Monday, November 13th:
*Pretrial Hearing - CA - Ghost Ship Warehouse Fire in Oakland on Dec. 2, 2016 killing 36 people - Derick Ion Almena (47), and Max Harris (27), charged with 36 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter; entered their not guilty pleas. They remain in custody at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on $750,000 bond and face up to 39 years in prison each if convicted.

 

[Niner]

Can't find any updates over here - maybe someone in California can find one from the hearing 2 days ago....

TIA! :wave:

 

[Spellbound]

I can’t find anything here. These are from an earlier date, Sept. 27:

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/09...-to-enter-pleas-at-wednesday-morning-hearing/
[FONT=&quot]The pair’s attorneys each entered not guilty pleas for the former Ghost Ship tenants, as they quietly affirmed the pleas to the judge. A preliminary hearing is now scheduled for Nov. 13 at Rene C. Davidson Courthouse, and a pre-trial conference on Nov. 7.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]At a hearing earlier this month, Tony Serra, who represents Almena, and Curtis Briggs, who represents Harris, argued they cannot adequately defend their clients because the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has not specified the charges.

—-
[/FONT]http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/...neys-challenge-manslaughter-charges-in-court/
[FONT=&quot]But Judge Northridge overruled the challenge to the charges, called a demurrer.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Serra said outside the courtroom he felt “dismayed” by the judges ruling. He also reiterated that his client was not even present the night of Dec. 2 when 36 people died in the deadly warehouse fire.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Attorney Curtis Briggs, who represents Harris, had a similar statement.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“How you can have two young men, who aren’t criminals, be prosecuted and in custody for $750,000, and you don’t even know as a government, what caused the fire?” Briggs said. “They’re own investigators and law enforcement don’t know what caused the fire.”

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]But Mary Alexander, lead attorney for a civil lawsuit families of the victims have brought against Almena, the city of Oakland, and the building owner said the cause of the fire has always been clear: it was electrical.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It is clear that the cause of this fire was electrical and that there was a strain on the electrical system the night of this event with all the musical equipment,” she said.
——
9/27/2017
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/20...-almena-harris-involuntary-manslaughter-plea/
master tenant Derick Almena and creative director Max Harris pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter


[/FONT]

 

[Spellbound]

A different FB than I had seen before: I said I was sorry, with derick Almena
https://www.facebook.com/I-said-I-was-sorry-with-Derick-Almena-544322155773164/

[h=1]7/9/2017 - several “tearful” videos from the interview on the page, along with the long article.

Exclusive jailhouse interview: Ghost Ship's Derick Almena says others should share in the blame[/h]http://www.ktvu.com/news/exclusive-...s-he-should-get-some-but-not-all-of-the-blame
[FONT=&quot]He spoke, often in meandering statements and offering sometimes confusing and conflicting accounts, in a small interview room inside the jail surrounded by a reporter, two photographers, two Alameda County sheriff's deputies and two lawyers, including high-profile attorney Tony Serra. It appears as though he’s gained at least 20 pounds since his arrest.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]His list of those who should carry the blame includes: The Ng family, who own the Fruitvale District property; PG&E; and the many, many guests who made music and art inside the collective. Plus, there were more than 20 artists who “inhabited the space,” Almena said, and all of those people should share some of the responsibility.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Finally, Almena got a little esoteric about who he believes is most at fault for the deaths of the 36.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I blame God,” he said. “Fire is God. Fire is life." He drew artwork in prison to depict what he means: The word BLAME is in all capital letters hovering over the crying eye of God.

“I’m a scapegoat,” he said. If everyone who had visited or touched the Ghost Ship “shared in the burden,” of what happened that night, he said, “then that would be the closest thing to fair.”

[his wife, Allison]: Do I feel a sense of responsibility?” Allison asked, continuing without really answering her own question. “I will carry this for the rest of my life. I believe they are always with us and I believe that there has to be a great purpose and a greater reason. Do I feel responsible?”

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The prosecutor’s’ charging documents allege the two acted “recklessly, creating a high risk of death, adding “a reasonable person would have known that acting in that way would create such risk. Their actions were so different from the way an ordinarily careful person would act in the same situation that their actions amounted to a disregard for human life.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Almena allowed up to 20 people to live in the warehouse, violating the lease agreement, and when he did so, “it became his responsibility under the California Fire Code to install fire suppression systems such as automatic fire sprinklers, smoke alarms, exit signs, marked locations for fire extinguishers, and to create an evacuation plan,” prosecutors stated.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]But Almena claims that the landlords were well aware that he and his family were living in the warehouse and it was their responsibility to let the city know, not his.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In addition, prosecutors say that Almena and Harris “altered the interior of the warehouse by building a makeshift bathroom, cutting a doorway into a wall, cutting a hole into the roof and opening a previously sealed window in a wall of the adjacent building. These alterations were all done without the permit and inspection process that is designed to insure the safety of people occupying the building and are violations of the Oakland Municipal code and California State Fire code.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Almena specifically addressed the issue of that stairwell: That staircase, he said, was purchased from Home Depot and was one of the only internal structures still standing after the fire. He said it “was awesome. I saved lives by putting that staircase in.”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Since his arrest in June, Almena has been in a jail cell all by himself. He said he has lots of time to write, draw and dream – he sleeps about 18 to 20 hours a day.
[/FONT]
Much more at link above

 

[Spellbound]

The owner of the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland is set to receive an insurance payout of $3 million, as reported by local news outlet KTVU:
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/10/03/25450021/the-owner-of-the-ghost-ship-warehouse-will-be-awarded-3-million-insurance-payout
The Mercury News also reported that experts said the email evidence could help bolster a possible criminal case against the landlords, but Ng was never charged in the final criminal case.

“The lack of electrical infrastructure was made very clear before your lease began,” Kai Ng, the son of building owner Chor Ng, wrote in a Feb. 15, 2015, email to Derick Almena, who ran the artists’ cooperative in the illegally converted Ghost Ship warehouse, subletting space to artists who lived there.Two days earlier, Almena had told Kai Ng that electricity flowed to the arts collective and adjoining businesses within the block of buildings the Ngs owned through “ancient and violated lines of distribution” that were “in dire need of a total and immediate upgrade.” Chor Ng has owned the building, a former milk bottling plant, for more than 25 years.

http://sfist.com/2017/10/22/ghost_ship_proprietor_featured_in_s_1.php
[FONT=&quot]....Prison Art Show to get a few snapshots of the [/FONT]conflicting and dark[FONT=&quot] work of Almena, plus some more uplifting pieces by several other inmates.[/FONT]

 

[borndem]

Almena is a jerk of the highest order. What a selfish, uncaring, good-for-nothing piece of protoplasm. JMO.