OAKLAND — In a bid to spring his client from jail, an attorney offered Friday to pony up his own money to house a defendant in the deadly Ghost Ship warehouse fire in a sober living facility while awaiting trial.
The attorney, Curtis Briggs, made the offer on behalf of Max Harris during a bail motion hearing before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy. Harris, 28, and co-defendant Derick Almena, 48, are former warehouse tenants who each have been charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of 36 people who perished in a huge fire during a dance party the night of Dec 2, 2016, at the East Oakland arts collective known as the Ghost Ship.
Briggs said he personally vetted two sober living facilities for Harris, one in Alameda County and another with beds in San Francisco, San Bruno and East Palo Alto. At least one of the facilities cost $650 per month, and Briggs said he would personally “guarantee from my own pocket that these payments will be made” if Harris can’t afford them.
But after speaking with the defendants’ attorneys in chambers, Murphy continued the bail hearing that began in April to May 24.
Briggs withdrew a previous motion to free Harris, whose friend had offered to let him live with her in a nearby apartment.
Briggs told the media after Friday’s hearing it was a “very positive day” because the judge seemed to be leaning toward releasing Harris. He added that Harris was pre-approved for an electronic ankle monitoring system if released.
Briggs said he’s counting on Humphrey’s decision, a landmark state ruling that requires judges to consider giving non-monetary bail alternatives to defendants who cannot afford cash bail.
Also during Friday’s hearing, attorney Tony Serra asked the judge to dismiss the case. He argued that his client, Almena, believed he had the “green light” that people could live there from fire, police and sheriff’s personnel who had previously visited the warehouse and said nothing. Serra also stated that the cause of the fire was never determined.
Judge Murphy denied Serra’s motion.
Tyler Smith, another attorney who represents Harris, said evidence showed that Harris did not block the back stairwell preventing people from escaping the fire during the dance party, as the prosecution originally indicated. Smith said witness Aaron Marin testified during the preliminary hearing in December that Harris did not block the staircase.
“It begs the question: Would Harris even be here if the government had listened more closely?” Smith said.
But prosecutor Autrey James responded that Marin talked about going up those back stairs and pushing the inflatable speaker or screen projector out of the way to get back to the party area when the fire started. The kitchen area, where he eventually escaped from through a window, was blocked by the large inflatable object, Marin testified.
“To me, that’s blocking,” James said.
James said that is why a trial is needed — to have a jury decide.
Serra indicated his client will testify in the trial, expected to begin July 16. A motion made by both defense attorneys suggested some of the debris from the fire could have been analyzed or tested as evidence, but was instead destroyed.
After the hearing, Briggs likened releasing debris evidence to the warehouse’s owners, the Ng family, to “giving the murder weapon back to the murder suspect.” The evidence could have been used to shift the blame from his client to the owner, he said.
Both the prosecution and defense agreed to have the issue of the destroyed evidence heard by the trial judge, when the trial is set to begin in July.