Let’s keep this FReepathon moving and wrap it up, Folks!
Posted on 09/05/2019 3:25:44 PM PDT by jazusamo
Jurors in the Ghost Ship criminal trial acquitted defendant Max Harris on Thursday and hung on defendant Derick Almena, reaching the verdicts in Alameda County Superior Court five months after the trial started and more than a month after receiving the case.
Almena, 49, and Harris, 29, faced up to 39 years in prison if convicted on all charges stemming from the Dec. 2, 2016 inferno that killed three dozen people at a warehouse party in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood.
Defense attorneys for Harris said he could be released from custody as early as Thursday, but Almena’s fate was less certain. Ten jurors believed he was guilty, while two said he wasn’t.
“The jury is hopelessly deadlocked,” Judge Trina Thompson said.
A date to begin the process for a retrial of Almena has already been set for Oct. 4.
As for Harris, upon hearing the first “not guilty,” he and his two lawyers embraced.
Deliberations in the trial were stalled by both planned and unplanned delays. In a stunning ruling on what would have been the 10th day of deliberations, Thompson removed three jurors from the panel amid allegations of misconduct. Two of those former jurors may now face contempt proceedings, and the upheaval restarted deliberations to include three alternates.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfchronicle.com ...
Just wait till you get the Dive ship Conception trail
“Prosecutors argued that Almena, the master tenant of the Ghost Ship’s artist collective, was responsible for inviting dozens of people to illegally live in a space zoned only for storage. “
Harris did the maintenance and also helped stage the party.
Wow.
I’m no lawyer but worked with fire codes for many years, this surprises me.
“I’m no lawyer but worked with fire codes for many years, this surprises me.”
I hear it is not uncommon in SF.
That’s how you stick it to The Man. Just blow off his “rules.”
Let’s keep this FReepathon moving and wrap it up, Folks!
Even if #1 Assistant Max Harris is released from prison, I’ll bet he moves out of the Bay Area asap, or at least way from the East Bay. Too many people around here remember that day in December, just a few years ago. It was a tragic disgrace that was allowed to happen. Many guess that the GhostShip was seen as a safe place to do illegal drugs by the wealthy from surrounding counties. They were immune to the safety checks other buildings were supposed to be getting.
The Fire Marshall of that time, the first black lady to ever hold that job, was highly insulted that someone would doubt her professionalism and competence. She was ‘persuaded’ to resign a few months later by Mayor Libby. She resigned with a full pension!
Amen to that!
Thanks for posting their pics, may they RIP.
Shoot. Nobody goes down for this, not the owners, not the tenant, the subtenant, the people Uptown taking the payoffs ... nobody?
That’s sure what it’s looking like and there’s much blame to go around, especially these two dirt bags, the Oakland FD and corrupt politicians.
And when the Revolution comes, they’ll wonder why. I’m serious ... everyone just walks away from this? Intercontinental ballistic missles!
Escaping under the liberals get a pass Jesse Smolett theory of jurisprudence.
I couldn’t help but notice at the time that the police commissioner, the mayor and the fire chief were all women. So much for women’s empowerment. It means you actually have to do your jobs, ladies. They have blood on their hands.
I hear it is not uncommon in SF.
I doubt it. SF is pretty gentrified these days. There is a reason this happened in the flatlands of Oakland.
The difference between this and the conception boat is that the folks on the conception boat we’re all very wealthy and all these kids in that warehouse in Oakland where ragtag ne’er-do-wells on drugs with no jobs and really no lives
I remember well seeing and reading about this fire in Oakland and it reminded me of the Whitesnake event in the bar and Rhode Island in 2002 and 120 something kids died when their pyrotechnics said the stage on fire That was also terribly sad
It’s always the panic and lack of escape routes that are caused the death
These things used to occur regularly in the early part of the 1900s
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