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

[Niner]

Anyone know "what" happened at the court hearing on Nov. 13th??

TIA! :wave:

 

[MsMarple]

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="]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][/COLOR][COLOR=#353E47][FONT="]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="]Finally, Almena got a little esoteric about who he believes is most at fault for the deaths of the 36.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#353E47][FONT="]“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="]The [URL="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4175850-Ghost-Ship-Probable-Cause.html"]prosecutor’s’ charging documents allege [/URL]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="]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][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#353E47][FONT="]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="]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][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#353E47][FONT="]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="]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

RBBM
I'm still following this case but I've tried to lighten up on posting whenever I read a new article. So thanks for keeping the news up Spellbound!

I want to point out that the stairwell Almena is speaking about is not the rickety one made of pallets and a ramp that prevented people from getting downstairs, it's the back stairwell that Harris blocked off the night of the party. You can get that from context either at that link or another that I saw in msm. They can claim it until the end of time but that won't make their lies true!

It absolutely burns my butt that both Almena and his lawyer are attempting to pull a fast one in order to somehow mitigate Almena's culpability for the deaths. Even Almena's wife was quoted way back as telling someone that they intended to upgrade escape routes. Unfortunately a lot of links are now lost but I did post them at one point.

So no, the back stairwell could have been made of gold but it was blocked off that night when the people on the second floor most needed a way out of that inferno. The stairwell that kept them from escape was a piece of garbage that was nearly impossible to navigate in the best of circumstances.

Ooh, I'm so mad at Almena, his wife and Harris. To try and hold the people attending their party responsible for their own deaths is beyond comprehension IMO. And I do think Ng should shoulder some responsibility but the people living in the Ghost Ship never interacted with her, they rented from Almena.

IMO he's a con man who thinks the rest of us will swallow his new age platitudes. Sorry, dude, we're smarter than that.

 

[MsMarple]

Oh, and here's IMO a puke-worthy interview with Micah Allison, speaking at a prison art work show held at Almena's lawyer's office where Almena's art work was featured. She made no mention of the dangerous conditions in the Ghost Ship - surprise:

Micah Allison is also insistent that she and her family are not villains and they, too, were deeply affected by the tragedy that claimed 36 lives. While she did not formally apologize for the deaths, or for the condition of the warehouse, which was filled with musical equipment, art, makeshift plumbing and jerry-rigged electricity and loads of wood, she did say that she “will forever carry a great burden.
...
Allison has been working as a social worker while her children – ages 14, eight, and six – attend school in Lake County.

“It's just a lot of financial stress on me and I’m bearing all of it right now, as a lot of women and mothers do, whose husbands are inside,” she said. Her oldest daughter just began high school this fall.
...
“It's a great honor for me to be able to show this work on behalf of my husband and I do it with complete and total humility,” she said. “I don't want anything from any of this except for people to be able to feel and experience art through my husband's hands and through his viewpoint, and that maybe they would be open to seeing it and maybe to have some compassion for what he's going through and what we're going through.”

http://www.ktvu.com/news/2-investig...fe-of-ghost-ships-derick-almena-talks-to-ktvu

So she's still playing the "poor me I need money" card and defending her husband, all the while taking no responsibility for her or his lack of assuring that the Ghost Ship tenants and the party goers would be safe in an emergency. Cry me a river. Bah.

Per the bolded: How on earth can she work as a "social worker" when her own kids were removed by Child Services in the past? Um, just no.

 

[Niner]

So.... nothing on the court hearing back on Nov. 13th??

TIA! :seeya:

 

[MistyM]

Oh, and here's IMO a puke-worthy interview with Micah Allison, speaking at a prison art work show held at Almena's lawyer's office where Almena's art work was featured. She made no mention of the dangerous conditions in the Ghost Ship - surprise:



http://www.ktvu.com/news/2-investig...fe-of-ghost-ships-derick-almena-talks-to-ktvu

So she's still playing the "poor me I need money" card and defending her husband, all the while taking no responsibility for her or his lack of assuring that the Ghost Ship tenants and the party goers would be safe in an emergency. Cry me a river. Bah.

Per the bolded: How on earth can she work as a "social worker" when her own kids were removed by Child Services in the past? Um, just no.

hustlers gotta hustle.

watching that prison interview with 'ion', he's certainly a deflector and a blamer. i mean he blamed god, working it out in his head that fire killed the people, not his actions. i think he has some drug induced brain damage going on. i can see how he charms people who want to believe in the best in everyone. the rest of us just see the BS.

eta: i would so watch this trial, because i know he'd take the stand against the advice of his lawyer and end up being found so guilty in the end, much to his suprise because his testimony was so 'awesome!'. RIP to the victims.

 

[human]

Oh, and here's IMO a puke-worthy interview with Micah Allison, speaking at a prison art work show held at Almena's lawyer's office where Almena's art work was featured. She made no mention of the dangerous conditions in the Ghost Ship - surprise:



http://www.ktvu.com/news/2-investig...fe-of-ghost-ships-derick-almena-talks-to-ktvu

So she's still playing the "poor me I need money" card and defending her husband, all the while taking no responsibility for her or his lack of assuring that the Ghost Ship tenants and the party goers would be safe in an emergency. Cry me a river. Bah.

Per the bolded: How on earth can she work as a "social worker" when her own kids were removed by Child Services in the past? Um, just no.

I wonder why she is not facing charges?

Social worker for who? Some strange group? What qualifications does she have?

If I saw his art work not knowing who made it, I would guess a middle school student.

He and his wife revolt me

 

[MsMarple]

So.... nothing on the court hearing back on Nov. 13th??

TIA! :seeya:

I couldn't find any news from the 13th but I did see that a preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 4 so maybe the date was moved?

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/20...-on-steps-taken-since-deadly-ghost-ship-fire/

 

[borndem]

Sounds logical -- the court date may have been postponed.

And as the reporter in the article above stated (as best I understand it) -- even though the city possibly should have done an inspection of the property, and apparently did not, it does not lessen or mitigate the culpability of Ion & Co. So, on with the show...

And thanks for the update. You are indeed a Divine Ms. M. !!

 

[Niner]

I couldn't find any news from the 13th but I did see that a preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 4 so maybe the date was moved?

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/20...-on-steps-taken-since-deadly-ghost-ship-fire/

Yes - :tyou: for the update Divine Ms. M!!!

 

[Niner]

:bump: for today!!

Monday, December 4th:
*Prelim Hearing (PT) - 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.
11/20 Prelim hearing was postponed to Dec. 4th

:judge:

 

[MsMarple]

The preliminary hearing has been postponed until Wednesday. It was supposed to begin at 8:45 this morning.

The much-anticipated preliminary hearing for the criminal proceedings of two former Ghost Ship tenants, Derick Almena and Max Harris, accused of causing the deaths of 36 people attending a dance party on Dec. 2, 2016, was postponed until Wednesday.

The hearing, which was assigned to a department at the Rene C. Davidson courthouse in Oakland Monday morning, was moved because the judge in that department is out sick. Almena and Harris face 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter each.

Some family members of the victims were present Monday, including Maria Vega, the mother of Alex Vega, 22, who died in the arms of his girlfriend Michela Gregory, whose family was also present.

“It feels like it just happened yesterday,” Maria Vega said, with tears in her eyes.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/04/ghost-ship-criminal-court-hearing-postponed/

 

[MsMarple]

Here's a long article discussing the prelim:

The five-day preliminary hearing will be the first time an Alameda County Superior Court judge hears the prosecution’s evidence against master tenant Derick Almena and Max Harris, before deciding whether they should stand trial.

As many as two dozen witnesses — from former Ghost Ship residents, visitors who survived the Dec. 2, 2016 inferno and law enforcement officials — have been subpoenaed, multiple sources said.
...
In documents filed in June, prosecutors said Almena and Harris allowed people to illegally live and throw parties at the artist collective that they altered in violation of building and fire codes. The District Attorney’s Office also focused on two staircases in the two-story, 31st Avenue building.

Almena, 47, built the front staircase out of wood, a ramp or “gangplank,” according to the DA’s office. Harris, 27, is alleged to have blocked the back staircase on the night of the fire.
...
Aaron Marin, who escaped the inferno in harrowing fashion by jumping from a second-story window, said in an interview Wednesday there was DJ equipment blocking the top of the back stairwell, but he was able to “squeeze” past it.
...
However, despite the prosecution’s claims that Harris blocked the pathway, Marin and former Ghost Ship resident Carmen Brito said it’s not clear who did. Marin is expected to be the first witness called in the criminal case on Monday. Brito has received an order to appear as well.

Brito, who was there the night of the fire, said she doesn’t understand why Harris was arrested. The Oakland resident said the fire’s origin and path was at the bottom of the back staircase, so it’s unlikely anyone could have escaped from above there. She told the same thing to fire investigators days after the fire.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/...ns-two-days-after-fires-one-year-anniversary/

More at the link. Remember Carmen Brito? She's been a supporter of both Almena and Harris since the beginning. Here's a transcript of an interview with her from December 5, 2016:

https://www.npr.org/2016/12/05/504467106/oakland-warehouse-fire-survivor-we-were-a-family

 

[borndem]

Here's a long article discussing the prelim:



http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/...ns-two-days-after-fires-one-year-anniversary/

More at the link. Remember Carmen Brito? She's been a supporter of both Almena and Harris since the beginning. Here's a transcript of an interview with her from December 5, 2016:

https://www.npr.org/2016/12/05/504467106/oakland-warehouse-fire-survivor-we-were-a-family

Well, she can certainly visit him in jail, and then (if justice is served) in prison and she can have many, many years, days & hours to catch him up on the living survivors of the "family." <gag>

 

[Jinkasaurus]

Assuming this goes to trial, I would hope they would live stream it. Given the number of victims, it would be nice for all family/friends to be able to watch it even if they were unable to travel to the actual trial.

Does anyone know if trials in this area are ever live streamed?

 

[Niner]

Was just coming here to post that a prelim hearing is on for tomorrow! Thanks for posting the article! Seems I get Google Alerts one day late....

 

[Niner]

Just another :bump: for today's hearing:

Wednesday, December 6th:
*Prelim Hearing @ 8:45am PT - 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. Prelim hearing could last 5 days. 11/20 Prelim hearing was postponed to Dec. 4th; & postponed again to Dec. 6th.


:judge:

 

[MsMarple]

A musician who was at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland's Fruitvale district last year when a fire broke out that killed 36 people testified today that a large inflatable projector blocked a passageway on the warehouse's second floor.

Aaron Marin, 46, the first witness in the preliminary hearing for Ghost Ship master tenant Derick Almena, 47, and creative director Max Harris, 27, said that the projector, which was used to show large images during a music party at the warehouse at 1309 31st Avenue on the night of Dec. 2, 2017, made it hard for people to move around the building's second floor.
...
The purpose of their preliminary hearing, which is expected to last five days, is to determine if there's enough evidence for them to stand trial.
...
Jose Avalos, a woodworker who is the second witness in the case, testified he lived at the warehouse for about two and a half years before the deadly fire and described it as "a place where there were caring people and where you could be yourself and express your passions."

Avalos said he paid $565 a month in rent, plus a small amount for utilities, to live at the warehouse and said between 15 and 25 people lived there at various times.

Avalos said he paid his rent to Harris but denied that Harris was second in command to Almena at the warehouse.
...
Avalos will continue his testimony when the hearing resumes on Thursday.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/witness-testifies-about-managing-to-escape-from-ghost-ship-fire

Smoke started to come from behind him too, surrounding the walls and building. It got so thick it was hard to breathe and people started to come back up the front steps, shaking their heads.

“I just sat there and accepted that it was just over for me,” Marin said.

During his description of the tragic events, family and friends of the 36 victims present in the courtroom were emotional. A couple held each other in the courtroom audience, their heads resting on each other. Another man closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest as if he were praying.

As many as two dozen witnesses, including former Ghost Ship residents and visitors to the electronic dance party that led to the inferno, are expected to testify. Marin and another man, Jose Avalos, a former tenant of the warehouse, were the only two to testify Wednesday.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/06/ghost-ship-criminal-preliminary-hearing-begins-today/

 

[MsMarple]

From yesterday, an interview with Derick Almena:

On the eve of his [Almena's] preliminary hearing, he spoke to KRON4’s Dan Kerman.

“It’s a fire. They don’t know how it started,” Almena said. “It happened and people got trapped. Now, let’s talk…I want to talk about how people got trapped. You know, like who is the cause of that? It wasn’t me. Those were staircases, and we brought pianos and organs up every day. You keep wanting to talk about this fire…that staircase saved people. If I didn’t put that staircase in, there would have been no way out.”

“And I still had the right to have people over, according to my lease and according to my arrangement with the landlord,” Almena added.
...
“I think if you’re going to hold me responsible, then I want the fire department, police, the landlords, my kids’ schoolteachers, that had parties in my space that knew we were living there and came and hang out. And one of the schoolteacher’s husbands was a fireman, and he’s like, ‘Great space, man. This is awesome,'” Almena said....
“I’m a father of three children,” Almena said. “I would never want this to happen, and I wish I could have been there to save your children to guide them out of that. It wasn’t a horrible place that they were in. It was an amazing place they were in with wonderful artists.”

http://kron4.com/2017/12/05/only-on...-ghost-ships-derick-almena-on-eve-of-hearing/

SMDH. What chutzpah Almena has.

 

[EA18G]

Witness recalls escape from Oakland warehouse during fire

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Aaron Marin was convinced his life was over as smoke engulfed a California warehouse in what was the country’s deadliest building fire in more than a decade.

Marin recalled during a court hearing on Wednesday that people who were unable to escape the blaze came up a flight of stairs shaking their heads and saying, “No.”

“I sat there and accepted the fact that it was just over for me,” he testified about the fire on Dec. 2, 2016 that killed 36 people.

Marin was able to get out and took the stand as the first witness in a preliminary hearing for the two men charged in the blaze at the Oakland building known as the Ghost Ship.

Prosecutors are trying to persuade Alameda County Judge Jeffrey Horner that defendants Derick Almena and Max Harris should stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges. The hearing is expected to last several days.

https://apnews.com/a698973da3204822...ow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=APWestRegion

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Ghost Ship: Survivor recalls escape from Oakland warehouse during deadly 2016 fire
by Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. — Aaron Marin was convinced his life was over as smoke engulfed a California warehouse last year in what turned out to be the country's deadliest building fire in more than a decade.

But Marin survived and testified Wednesday at a preliminary hearing for the two men charged in the blaze at the Oakland building known as the Ghost Ship...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...-oakland-warehouse-during-deadly-2016-n827221