David and Kimberly Gregory, parents of Michela Gregory, a victim in the 2016 Oakland warehouse fire, arrive at court in Oakland in April. David Gregory attends the Ghost Ship trial daily.
Prosecutors say Almena and Harris knowingly created a tinderbox with inadequate means of escape. When the fire broke out, scores of people were trapped on the warehouse’s second floor, and those trying to escape the flames had to navigate a rickety, narrow wooden staircase. All of the victims, ages 17 to 61, died of smoke inhalation, authorities said.
The prosecution rested its case last week, and the defense began calling witnesses Monday. Tony Serra, an attorney for Almena, said he expects at least three weeks of testimony and that his client will take the stand. “This is a political case,” Serra said. “The victims’ families are greatly aggrieved and in pain and suffering, and a jury has to decide it all.”
A potentially key witness for the defense took the stand in a hearing to determine whether her testimony would be admissible. There was no jury present. Under questioning by Assistant Dist. Atty. Casey Bates, she acknowledged that she did not call the police. She said she left her contact information with investigators at the scene some two months after the blaze but was never contacted.Gregory took notes in a small leather notebook. He didn’t believe her.
Gregory worked the night shift, fixing buses for San Mateo County, for more than two decades so he would never have to miss his kids’ ballgames. That’s one regret he’s thankful he doesn’t have: He spent a lot of time with his kids. “If I could give you my children’s lives, I would,” Almena, who stayed with his family in a motel the night of the fire, told victims’ families in the courtroom. He offered to get the names of the dead tattooed on his body.