OAKLAND, Calif. _ Seated for the first time Tuesday, jurors deciding the fate of two men charged in the deadly Oakland Ghost Ship warehouse fire heard the screams of terrified survivors on the phone with 911 dispatchers.
They saw a picture of the Fruitvale district warehouse, flames shooting from its roof, taken at 11:23 p.m. on Dec. 2, 2016. At that moment, a woman was texting her mother, "I'm going to die," jurors were told.
Those harrowing final minutes were a stop on Alameda County prosecutor Casey Bates' tour of the doomed warehouse from its origin to the fateful night when 36 partygoers perished inside.
But first the prosecutor put a face to each of the 36 charges of involuntary manslaughter that defendants Derick Almena and Max Harris face:
"Count 1, Jason McCarty ... Count 2, Donna Kellogg ... Count 11, Peter Wadsworth ...," Bates said, pausing at each slide. "And Count 36, Amanda Kershaw. All died because there was no notice, no time (to escape), no exits."
More than two years after the fire and after months of court setbacks including a botched plea deal, Almena, 49, and Harris, 29, took their seats Tuesday morning before the jury and Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson inside Rene C. Davidson Courthouse.
The Ghost Ship began as Satya Yuga art collective in November 2013, Bates told jurors, when Almena saw a Craigslist ad and contacted Eva Ng, whose family owns the 31st Avenue warehouse. Almena, according to an email Bates read aloud, said, "I love this space, I need this space."
A picture taken at the time showed an empty warehouse, much different from the Ghost Ship seen in pictures taken just before the fire. Pianos, organs, RVs, artwork and wooden barriers cluttered the first and second floor of the 10,000-square-foot building.
Bates told jurors Almena broke his lease within weeks of signing it. His co-signer, Nicholas "Nico" Bouchard, who left soon after inking the lease agreement, will testify that Almena laughed at suggestions that changes to the building needed to be up to code.
Bates plans to call Rodney Griffin, a former friend who worked in construction, to testify about how Almena ignored his advice on how to the transform the place, the prosecutor said. After Griffin gave estimates for a staircase and fire door totaling $5,000, Almena told him, "We can do it better, cheaper." Instead, he hired unlicensed contractor Jacob "Jake" Jacobitz, another prosecution witness.
Six months after the lease was signed, Griffin returned and described the warehouse as a "death trap."
"Mr. Almena's reaction, he laughed and said maybe we should call this the 'Satya Yuga Death Trap,' " Bates recounted Griffin telling prosecutors.
Bates used evidence from Harris' cellphone to support the prosecution's assertion that he collected rents, created leases with tenants and promoted events at the Ghost Ship, including the one that ended in tragedy. A month-to-month lease with Bob Mule, who survived the fire, that was signed by Mule and Harris was shown to jurors.
The prosecution also played police body camera footage, showing Almena on multiple occasions telling officers who were called to the warehouse to investigate complaints in the months leading up to the fire that no one lived inside. On one occasion, Harris did the same.
During one chilling moment Tuesday, Bates played 911 tapes, including from an unidentified male who repeatedly screamed "Oh, my god" and pleaded for help.
In his opening statements Tuesday afternoon, Harris' attorney, Curtis Briggs, distanced his client from labels the prosecution had assigned. Briggs described Harris as being a "servant" to others, living modestly and loving people more than material goods.
Harris, Briggs said, moved into the Ghost Ship long after Almena and others filled it from floor to ceiling with materials. As for the prosecution calling Harris the warehouse's "creative director," Briggs said that started as a joke, and the artist collective has no hierarchy.
"Max didn't run around calling himself the creative director," Briggs told jurors. "Max ran and mopped floors and cleaned bathrooms. Max was Cinderella."
Harris plans to testify.
Briggs shifted blame to the Oakland Fire Department and investigations showing hundreds of commercial buildings, including the Ghost Ship, never were inspected. A fire captain who went inside the building had concerns and sent a request for an inspection, but it was never performed. The fire captain and former fire marshal will be called to testify.
Briggs also presented jurors with a theory that the fire was an intentional act of arson, saying witnesses saw a group of unknown men near where it started. They heard popping noises, he said.
Almena's attorney, Tony Serra, will give his opening statements Wednesday morning. His statements were delayed because of an issue with someone communicating with a juror. Judge Thompson warned any further communications with a member of the jury could result in arrest and possibly a closed trial. Attorneys and the judge did not say who communicated with the juror and what the nature of the communication was.
