The main leaseholder of a warehouse-turned-art-venue in Oakland, California, that caught on fire in a 2016 tragedy was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment Monday.
Derick Almena, 50, will not serve his sentence in prison. Instead, he will spend 18 months of the sentence under house arrest with an ankle tag. He will then have three years of post-custody supervised probation, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The defendant had earned credit for time served while awaiting trial with good behavior, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Massive Fire Burns For 14 Hours In Texas As Firetrucks Struggled To Find Water)
The “Ghost Ship” warehouse caught on fire on Dec. 2, 2016, when an electronic music event was happening inside the structure, according to the Associated Press (AP). Victims fleeing from the blaze got trapped in the illegally-built second floor, with only a narrow, rickety staircase by which to escape, AP reported.
Almena will also have to pay restitution of $181,000 for the victims’ funerals and for their relatives’ counseling expenses, reported KTVU. The sentencing was the result of a plea deal that has been criticized by the victims’ relatives, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The plea deal was for nine years in custody and three years of post-custody supervised probation in exchange for pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges, the outlet reported. Almena pleaded guilty in January to 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter.
The ‘Ghost Ship’ on flames after a fire broke out Dec. 2, 2016 during a music event. (Screenshot/KPIX CBS SF Bay Area via YouTube)
“I know that no family member will find this in any way acceptable, and I accept that responsibility,” Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson said Monday towards the case’s conclusion, according to NPR. “I wish I could in the stroke of a pen take away your deep loss and your sadness,” Thompson added.
Thompson accepted that the plea agreement’s outcome was likely not satisfactory for the victims’ relatives, KTVU reported. However, she defended her decision to uphold the plea agreement, saying that COVID-19 would have complicated the process of setting up a second trial.
