Ghost Ship Trial: Jury Acquits Defendant but Can’t Reach Verdict on Another

The real negligent party is the corrupt building owner, who knew exactly what was going on but whose greed won out over safety. The slumlord hightailed it to China and won't be seen in the USA again. Hopefully the victims' families will be successful in their civil suit and keep the slumlord out of the USA.

Why wasn't the landlord indicted for criminal charges as well? I know they have the laws.

I read about this case and really thought Harris should not be found guilty--not so sure about Almena. However both seemed to be the only ones that were supposed to be responsible even though every artist residing in the building had to know it was "funky" and substandard. Why was the landlord and building/fire inspectors not charged in the case? Too often a person lower on the chain is the scapegoat while government officials and wealthy owners get off with no consequence

The Ngs as building owners and profiteers should be charged with the murders. They knew people were living in the building.

What are people supposed to do? $600 rent sounds like a dream for that area. More of these things are bound to happen until city officials stop catering to million dollar condo investors. Change the codes and zoning to build micro apartments that are affordable. But no one cares about regular folk and this is the result.

Art is an overriding passion, and just as lovers are driven to find a place to celebrate their passion, artists can be desperate for a space to create their work. These artists needed to create art. They were drawn by the rich environment of a community of their peers, and it was one of the few places where they could afford to live and work. Derick Almena, the master tenant and leaseholder, and Max Harris, who managed the warehouse for him, were the star villains of this tragedy who made a living off the tenants in the dangerous environment of Ghost Ship. They knew that the building was crammed to capacity with flammable materials, that exits were few and difficult to get to, and they took no responsibility to change any of it. But the shadow villain in this story is the landlord, Chor Nar Siu Ng, the slum lord who did nothing but profit from a building he owned and did nothing to maintain. There is no justification for why he was not arrested along with them. He is being sued in civil court, but he was as guilty of breaking the law as they were, and the survivors and families of the victims should not have to bear the pain and expense of suing him. All three of these men should be held accountable and punished for the deaths of Ghost Ship fire victims. Why there was any doubt about their guilt is a mystery. That Almena will need to be retried and Harris was acquitted is a failure of justice, but the failure to include Chor Nar Siu Ng in the trial is outrageous.

Despite the pain and horror of everything related to the Ghost Ship fire, the tenants were considered self-indulgent, careless young people who were taking advantage of a low-rent, unsupervised place to live and should have known better, instead of artists who historically have had to live where could and make do with what they had until fate either found them or passed them by. My guess is that if Almena and Harris had been black they would have been sent to prison. If the tenants had been upscale rich people, Almena and Harris would have been sent to prison. If the City of Oakland government departments who were responsible for inspecting Ghost Ship and requiring a safe environment for the tenants had not been at risk for criminal negligence themselves, Almena and Harris would have been sent to prison. Instead, everyone was treated like a feckless child who just didn't know any better. The minute these men started renting spaces in this hopelessly substandard building they exposed themselves to a prison sentence if something like this fire were to happen, and that standard should also apply to everyone who knew the condition of the building. A lot of people failed these artists and caused their deaths. There ought to be some prison time coming to a lot of people, including the slumlord owner.

Almena and Harris were exploiting the artists desperate for cheap(ish) rent and community support. Almena was the master tenant and leaseholder and charged his 25 artist tenants about $12,000 total a month. How much over the rent Ng, the building owner, was charging was this (and Almena pocketing the rest for himself)?

It seems true that not one city official has stepped forward to say how we could fix the broken system of hazardous living conditions since the Ghost Ship fire. This tragedy continues, in part, because they don't read. The 2013-2014 Alameda County Grand Jury Final Report on fire department inspections provides specific, reasonable recommendations for guaranteed improvement. It is valuable public information and is applicable to communities everywhere. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step...look at the map.

As a former resident of Berkeley, it seems obvious that these people were willing to put up with the cramped space in order to have affordable rent and be a part of an artistic community. Rent over there is REALLY high. And there are no real plans to make it any more affordable. I visit a couple times a year to see family and I am always shocked to see how unchanged it is while LA is transforming before our eyes. I’ve never felt that the landlords/property managers were villains in this. Certainly not to the extent that they should go to jail for more than a decade.

This situation is beyond horrible for all concerned. While I am sickened by what the victims and their families have been put through, I cannot blame the two defendants for the fire. Ensuring the safety of the building was NOT THEIR JOB. Their job was to provide habitable space at low rents for adult artists who elected to live in the city at affordable rates; and to comply with building codes as communicated by the experts whose JOB WAS ensuring building safety. I believe Mr. Harris was simply a scapegoat in this affair, and that Mr. Almena possibly (evidence??) may have been derelict in some matter of code compliance, but certainly not guilty of manslaughter. The plaintiffs deserve concrete acknowledgement of their losses. Let the building owner and the City step up and accept appropriate blame, and take the consequences.

Over the years that Almena rented the space, other people told him it was a fire hazard, and even offered to help install extinguishers, but he just laughed it off. The building owner, too, knew that people were living there, but Almena is the primary culprit, stuffing the place full of flammable items, and allowing it to be used for dance parties, then shedding crocodile tears after the fire. Trying to pass it off as arson is just Tony Serra’s mendacious trick, Almena knew what he was doing was wrong but did not care.

Here are a couple points of interest to note: 1) Tony Serra (Almena's lawyer) was on local Bay Area TV yesterday stating that the juror misconduct which resulted in 3 jurors being excused mid-deliberation was that one of the jurors consulted an outside source (a friend who works for a fire department) regarding the response by the fire department in the case. She apparently told the rest of the jury and 2 of them admitted the information affected their deliberations. In California, when jurors are excused during deliberations, they are replaced by alternate jurors who were not privy to the initial deliberations and the new panel has to start over from scratch. 2) Almena's case is far from over. A 10-2 split for guilt generally results in a re-trial, which would mean Almena gets to go through this all over again, this time by himself. Hard to call odds on how that turns out. However, there is a distinct possiblity that a new deal will be worked out, and it will resolve via plea agreement. Perhaps the victims' families will be less resistant to a deal now, given the emotional toll the first trial took. 3) One explanation for what happened here is that neither defendant had the intent for any of this to happen. That really puts this case into the civil, not criminal, realm. It is likely that this result actually helps any civil suits pending.

So who bears responsibility? The landlord who owned the property and ignored the responsibility that goes with owning a physical structure that was occupied by people ? Wouldn't the owner who ultimately profited from the building? Should it be the local authorities who were responsible for inspections and upholding the local codes? They are paid to assure the safety of people in buildings by enforcing the laws that are meant to do so. Is it the man who managed the building and the young man he had helping him? Is it the people who lived there and contributed to the flammable materials that were brought into the building? There is plenty of blame to go around. I have sympathy for the young man who was acquitted. He, it seems to me, was scapegoated. He at least showed real remorse and will live with the guilt for the rest of his life. The man who "employed" him, seems to me to have had less concern based on the prior reporting. It was a failure of the system that includes the people who were not charged, the buildings owner and the local authorities, escaped any actionable consequences. Why? The legal system chose to take action against the wrong people in my opinion. I feel deep sympathy for the families who lost loved ones in the fire. They deserve to see those who were responsible for the fire, face consequences. The two men charged are not the only people involved who should be held accountable.

Fifteen years ago I worked for a property management company in the Los Angeles area that owned a building which housed an artists' cooperative similar to the Ghost Ship, in which we knew that some artists were surreptitiously living illegally. But we were closely monitored by the fire department and building officials, and met all of the fire safety requirements for exiting in an emergency. Then one day I went to IKEA and I asked myself, "How does IKEA, with its maze-like design, meet emergency exiting requirements?" I would not want to be inside an IKEA if there was an earthquake. And here in Portland, IKEA is located directly under the flight path for planes landing at Portland International Airport, just a mile or two to the west.

I lived in several Oakland warehouse-artist spaces back in the late '80s. The larger spaces often held after hours underground events with bands or DJs. The city and fire department would shut down some events and living spaces, but there was no way they could locate or keep pace with all of them. Resistence to their efforts was from organizers and tenants was strong. Earlier reports indicated that Alamena functioned as a landlord, organized the event that ended in tragedy, and was at a hotel that night so he and his family could get a good night's sleep. Deflecting all responsibility onto the city, building owner, or fire department is unjust.

Throughout the NYT reporting of this story the grossly incompetent fire chief has been protected and coddled. Rarely is it ever mentioned, never in the NYT, that the Ghost Ship fire was not the first fatal fire in an illegally occupied warehouse in Oakland. The city prosecutors are trying to blame Almena but he didn't know the fire codes. The fire department does and they knew about that warehouse. Each time the fire chief spoke at a press conference was a disaster for the city because she quite obviously did not know what she was talking about, saying things like "We don't inspect vacant buildings". It's standard practice for fire departments to do pre-planning inspections of buildings in a station's response area. Those at the nearby fire station knew about the Ghost Ship and had reported it. The liberal progressive city government is now trying to blame the computer software, after the fact. The liberal progressive news media is on the same page and protecting their incompetence and corruption as much as possible. But meanwhile they will harp, for days and days, on Trump's error about saying Alabama was in the path of a hurricane. A gaff that is of little consequence. I'll be surprised if the censors even post this comment.

After such an incredible tragedy, it is also very, very sad that little coverage talks about the City of Oakland's failure to enforce building codes, zoning issues, etc. This lack of enforcement was the critical reason that this tragedy occurred and Oakland - like many cities in California - is unwilling and unable to enforce laws on the books.

A warehouse is not housing for anyone. It has no life-safety protections; it's made to warehouse stuff, not people. The city has a duty to act to close places like this. I understand people need a place to live, but not in a death trap. In the time that has elapsed since this tragedy, how many of these illegal warehouses have been cleared out in Oakland and around the country? I am sure a multitude still are occupied and another fire will occur with deadly consequences. Will anyone act before another tragedy?

Since the noteworthy New York Times profile of Max Harris last year, the fear was palpable that he, the least among them, would be scapegoated to bear the full burden of responsibility while the Ng family sat swaddled in protective layers of unaccountability. The verdict must feel a hollow and bitter gesture to the families of the beloved victims; still the responsibility for the deaths of 36 beautiful lives did not ultimately rest with Max Harris, and I commend the jury for both enduring and achieving an immeasurable task.

I lived in a DIY warehouse in West Oakland for a couple years and while it was possibly safer than Ghost Ship none of us wanted to be there if the Big Earthquake came. Ironically the house I lived in immediately after moving out burned down due to faulty electrical wiring. The Ghost Ship is a tragedy for all and no easy answers. I do feel sorry for the organizers and I've probably even met Mr. Almena as we ran in the same circles albeit a decade ago.

Sounds like the fire in Rhode Island in 2003, where the band "Great White" set off incendiary devices in "The Station" as part of thier show....and in 15 minutes, 100 people died in the ensuing inferno, which was filmed by a photographer who was in this ramshackle bar/club to film the performance.... In that trial, only one person stood up and took any responsibility, but he was not the owner of the bar, and the City officials, band reps, bar manager... also never had to account for thier shoddy inspections and overcrowding of the bar that night... Google "Great White Station Fire". The video was uploaded to You Tube and is one of the worst examples of how fast a fire spreads...once I saw it, I could not un-see it, and I went out and bought two more smoke detectors the next day. I also ALWAYS note where TWO exits are located in any venue I attend. That video also shows crowd psychology....people in a panic -all crowd the entrance they remember they came into the place....creates a bottleneck...and disaster. The Ghost Ship fire in this article, the Station fire, and those poor victims of the recent "Conception" boat fire come to mind when I see an article like this.... Anyone who doesn't understand how fast and deadly a fire can be should study these stories, and buy your detectors TODAY.

A travesty. There should be a retrial. 36 people dead. Juror misconduct and dismissals. Is it like the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge? Those seeking justice apply elsewhere?

In parts of California, no one is guilty of anything - except income inequality or racism or whatever: From an attorney who represented one of the men on trial for locking doors, blocking exits, using stacked shipping pallets as stairs to illegal 'apartments': “None of this ever would have happened in the first place if the income inequality, the injustice … and the housing crisis, wasn’t permitted to get as bad as it has gotten in the Bay Area, and in Oakland, in the last few years,” he said. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-09-05/ghost-ship-fire-verdict?

Trying to hold these two men responsible is outrageous. I worked in a NYC high school for 15 years. At no time did the school properly execute a fire drill. The improperly run fire drills were witnessed by the school administration, teachers, students, neighbors, school safety, and fire department. One day, students will be injured in a crushing incident on the stairwells because they do not know how to properly evacuate the building. When that day comes, people will be shocked. They will want some one to be held accountable. Will the Principal be a scape goat? Maybe, but there are many people responsible.

Excessive property values, stratospheric rents, low property taxes and poor public schools-San Francisco has a lot of soul searching to do.