Ghost Ship Trial Defendant Breaks Down, Says He's Remorseful for Lives Lost

Derick Almena, master tenant of the Ghost Ship, a warehouse that caught fire on Dec. 2, 2016, killing 35 concert-goers and one tenant, broke down almost immediately Monday during testimony.

Almena, wearing a dark jacket over a white button-up shirt and hair tucked back in a ponytail, choked up before he could spell his name for the court.

Tony Serra, who represents Almena, asked his client if he felt responsible for those who died the night of the fire.

“Yes. I instigated something, built something, dreamed something,” Almena said. “I invited beautiful people in my space.”

Almena and Max Harris have each been charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the Oakland warehouse blaze.

Serra followed up and asked Almena if he felt remorse and contrition for the victims.

“I feel death, a loss of life forever,” Almena said. “They were beautiful, beautiful people.”

Last August, in rejecting plea deals for both Almena and Harris and setting the stage for the current criminal trial, an Oakland judge said Almena didn't acknowledge responsibility or show remorse for the fatal blaze. During that 2018 hearing, Almena offended Ghost Ship victims' family members when he said "If I could give each one of you my life, if I could give you my children's lives, I would."

On Monday, Almena testified that he felt the warehouse was safe and that he would never have put the lives of his three children, who lived with him and his wife there, at stake.

“I wouldn’t expose anyone to danger,” Almena said. “I feel the same way about my children as my friends.”

Almena went on to describe wanting to procure the warehouse as a place to store art he and Micah Allison, who he’s married to, had collected on their travels around the world.

“I got the warehouse as a final resting place for art,” he said.

Almena said he envisioned the Ghost Ship as a center for community and creative outreach, a place where people could take classes or display their art.

He testified that he did not originally rent the warehouse with the intent to live there. He also said he told the landlords the space would be used as an art collective.

Almena said he had also asked the landlords, Kai and Eva Ng, to make renovations to the warehouse “all the time,” saying there was “nothing there. No waste lines. No water. No electricity.” He said the landlords told him the warehouse was deemed “as-is.”

“I rented something that shouldn’t have been rented by an art collective,” Almena said.

Almena said he made no profit at the Ghost Ship and that rent collected was funneled back into improvements to the building.

Almena is expected to continue testimony, including cross-examination by prosecutors, on Tuesday morning.

Previous Testimony Monday

Serra called three witnesses to testify before his client, Ghost Ship master tenant Derick Almena, was expected to take the stand Monday afternoon.

Darold Leite, who said he had lived inside the Ghost Ship for two years before moving into a redwood sauna house in the warehouse's side yard in 2016, testified he heard bottles breaking and four to five people in a loud argument on the night of the fire.

Leite said he saw seven to eight individuals in dark clothing who “left in a hurry” through the side door of the warehouse, and that he did not recognize them to be occupants. He said, responding to questions from Serra, that about seven to 10 minutes elapsed between the start of the argument and when he saw them flee the building.

The defense has argued the fire was started as an act of arson, and that Almena and Harris could have done nothing to prevent it.

The prosecution has argued that Almena and Harris illegally converted the warehouse into an unsafe living space and stuffed it full of flammable building materials. They also argue that proper safety equipment, such as fire alarms, smoke detectors and sprinklers, was not installed.

Outside court, Serra said Leite’s testimony backed up the defense’s theory that Molotov cocktails were used to start the fire.

Leite also described some botched attempts by the Oakland Fire Department to respond to the Dec. 2 blaze. He said firefighters entered through the side door of the building, but said it looked like their hose “got hung up” and that it didn’t seem long enough. He also said that fire department ladders got hung up in wires near the warehouse.

He testified that he did not consider the Ghost Ship to be a “fire trap,” and said he recalled seeing smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in the warehouse.

Under cross-examination from Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Casey Bates, Leite clarified that to his knowledge those detectors were not in public areas of the warehouse. He said he recalled there being detectors in the rooms of Almena’s children.

Leite also said he had removed metal screens from two to three windows to make the building safer in case of fire.

Leite — who said he did work for Almena, including moving equipment and furniture during events — said he had done electrical work at the warehouse. Under questioning from Bates, Leite said he had wired a kitchen in the warehouse to a contractor’s box or "spider box," a type of portable power distribution unit.

Asked if he had ever heard of kitchens being wired to these types of electrical boxes for permanent use, Leite said no.

Asked if he had obtained the proper permits to do so, he answered he did not think those types of permits were required.

Serra also called Oakland police Officer Jonathon Low, who had testified previously, to the stand. Low testified he had been to the warehouse with other officers four times from January 2015 through September 2015, and that he had entered the warehouse on two occasions.

Serra asked if Low had ever reported to his superiors about any safety violations at the Ghost Ship, to which he answered no. But under cross-examination from Bates, Low also said he had never received any training regarding building or fire safety codes.

Body-camera footage from Low in January 2015 had been shown in court previously in which Almena said no one had lived in the warehouse. Under cross-examination, Low reiterated that Almena told him no one lived in the warehouse and that artists signed contracts saying the warehouse was not a residence.

But Serra also pointed out a video from Jan. 31, 2015, featuring Almena in which Low said, “I’ve been here, they live here, they rent here and that’s a fact.”

Low also testified under questioning from Serra that he had helped someone move out of the warehouse in December 2015.

This story has been updated.