OAKLAND, California – The master tenant of a warehouse in the San Francisco Bay Area where 36 people died when a fire broke out during a dance party in 2016, pleaded guilty to death, and avoided a second trial after the first ended up in a pending jury.
Derick Almena, 50, pleaded guilty to 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in exchange for a 12-year sentence. Almena is already free on bail and will probably not go to jail again because of the almost three years he has spent behind bars and had the honor of good behavior.
Judge Trina Thompson, Alameda County High Court, read each count with the name of the victim. When she asked Almena his plea for each charge, he replied ‘guilty’, but his silent answers were sometimes inaudible through an online stream of the trial that was virtually held due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Thompson scheduled sentencing on March 8, when she will determine if he will pay compensation, will still be monitored electronically at his home in rural Northern California and will be supervised. Families of the victims will be allowed to give impact statements at that time.
Prosecutors say Almena was criminally negligent when he illegally converted the Oakland industrial warehouse into a residence and event space for artists called the “Ghost Ship,” filling the two-story building with flammable materials and extension cords. There were no smoke detectors or sprinklers.
On December 2, 2016, the fire broke out at the warehouse during an electronic music and dance party, which was moving so fast that victims were trapped on the illegally built second floor. Prosecutors said the victims received no warning and that they had little chance of escaping in a narrow, stairwell.
The case is emotionally engulfing for relatives and friends of the victims. Many of them packed a courtroom for months in 2019, only to see a jury judge Almena, who rented the building. The jury also found innocent Max Harris, who was the “creative director” and rental collector of the Ghost Ship, innocent in the same trial.
Zita Gregory, grandmother of victim Michela Gregory, said Almena’s punishment can never be compared to the pain and suffering her family has endured over the past four years. She said her husband, who is already suffering from cancer from health, died a year after Michela.
“His condition has worsened. He said, “Why did God not take me sooner?” Said Gregory in a tearful interview.
Another grandchild born on Dec. 2 is no longer celebrating his birthday on that festive date, Gregory said.
“The fire destroyed our family – we’ve never been the same,” she said. “There will never be just punishment for what all the victims have lost.”
Almena has been jailed since 2017 until his release in May due to coronavirus concerns and after posting a $ 150,000 bail. He is under house arrest with a single monitor in the city of Upper Lake, where he lives with his wife and children.