No plea deals in Oakland warehouse fire case
UPDATE: 8/16/2018 1:15 p.m. A Northern California district attorney has told a judge she will no longer consider plea deals for two men charged in a 2016 warehouse fire that killed 36 people attending an unlicensed concert.
In a letter to the judge presiding over the case, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley also asks for a trial date soon on the 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter each man faces.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter Thursday, a day before the two men are scheduled to return to court.
Judge James Cramer last week rejected a plea deal that had been negotiated by O’Malley’s office and lawyers for Derick Almena and Max Harris.
Cramer said Almena failed to express adequate remorse because he said he is also a fire victim.
PREVIOUS STORY:
8/10/2018 12:10 p.m. Two men who accepted a deal in exchange for each pleading no contest to 36 charges of involuntary manslaughter in connection with a California warehouse fire will likely be released from prison after serving just half their sentences.
It’s typical for California prison inmates who keep a good disciplinary record to be released after serving half their terms.
Judge James Cramer on Friday is expected to sentence 48-year-old Derick Almena to nine years in prison and 28-year-old Max Harris to six years, even though relatives of victims of the 2016 blaze in Oakland have slammed the proposed sentences as too lenient.
A prosecutor said the two men had turned the warehouse into a residential “death trap” by cluttering it with highly flammable knick-knacks and blocking the few exits.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Relatives of 36 people killed at a warehouse fire in Northern California are testifying during the sentencing of two men convicted in their deaths.
Susan Slocumb’s 32-year-old daughter, Donna Kellogg, was killed at the warehouse during an illegal concert in 2016.
Slocumb was the first relative to testify Thursday. She says Derick Almena and Max Harris should be given lengthier sentences than a plea deal calls for.
In a plea bargain with the Alameda County district attorney’s office, Almena agreed to a nine-year prison sentence and Harris agreed to six years.
Slocum said the defendants “got off easy in the plea deal.”
Judge James Kramer opened the hearing by admonishing everybody to remain calm, saying he expected it to be “heart wrenching.”
PREVIOUS STORY:
Two men who pleaded no contest to 36 charges of involuntary manslaughter will face the families of those who died in a fire at an illegally converted Northern California warehouse.
Derick Almena and Max Harris will appear in an Oakland courtroom starting Thursday.
Relatives of the victims are expected to testify about their losses before the two are sentenced on Friday.
Prosecutors say Almena rented the warehouse he dubbed the Ghost Ship and illegally converted it into a residence and entertainment venue before a blaze ripped through it during an illegal concert in 2016. Almena hired Harris to help collect rent and schedule concerts.
