Ghost Ship trial: Government agent contradicts defense witness’ arson testimony

Ghost Ship trial: Government agent contradicts defense witness’ arson testimony

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A government agent contradicted a key defense witness’s testimony in the Ghost Ship trial on Monday, saying that the witness never told investigators that he saw or heard people fighting or bottles being broken moments before the deadly 2019 fire.

Prosecutors used the testimony of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Whitney Hameth to attempt to undermine the defense’s claims the blaze was caused by a group of people that threw Molotov cocktails inside the space.

Hameth said Darold Leite, who lived in the back lot of the warehouse, never said in his interviews with ATF that he saw a group of people in dark clothing run from the warehouse or that he heard people fighting. Leite took the stand last week and said he heard a fight and what sounded like bottles breaking — corroborating claims from the defense that the blaze was set by arsonists and the glass popping sounded like “Molotov cocktails.”

Leite was interviewed by ATF on Dec. 3 and Dec. 5, 2016, less than a week after the fire broke out on Dec. 2.

“Did he ever indicate to you he saw a group of people in dark clothes run from the side of the door?” asked Casey Bates, the prosecutor.

“No,” Hameth said.

“Did he ever indicate to you that heard sounds of a fight?” Bates asked.

“No,” Hameth said.

Derick Almena, 49, who leased the warehouse from the property owner and allowed it to be used for an electronic music party the night of the fire, and his co-defendant Max Harris, 29, each face three dozen charges of involuntary manslaughter, one for each life lost in the fire.

Both men sat in the courtroom Monday. Harris, dressed in a dark red shirt and pants with a black suit jacket, occasionally looked at a friend sitting in the court gallery and smiled. Almena, in a dark suit jacket and white shirt, kept his eyes down.

Ivania Chavarria, the mother of Chase Nex Iuguolo, one of the victims in the fire, said outside the courthouse Monday that the testimonies that days shows that Leite is “lying for Almena.”

“It’s very sad that people are willing to lie… over 36 people dead, innocent kids that went to an event,” she said.

“It’s very hard for somebody that has lost their child, who burned alive. It’s very extremely hard. But our children are not here to (get) justice,” she added.

The first rebuttal witness, Michael Erickson, sat on the stand while prosecution played his body camera footage from Sept. 26, 2014, in which Erickson spoke with Almena outside the warehouse after a couch caught fire on the street.

Erickson said no fire chief or police chief were present at the scene while he was there — in what appeared to be the prosecution’s attempt to address the testimony by Almena’s wife that she saw Almena giving fire investigators a tour of the space after someone set a couch on fire outside the warehouse.

The third witness, Paul Balzouman, an inspector with the district attorney’s office who interviewed Harris in Los Angeles after his arrest in June 2017, said Harris ran back into the warehouse during the fire to grab his laptop. In a testimony last month, Harris said, he was on hold after dialing 911 and waved his cell phone light into the darkened warehouse as about 10 more people ran out to safety.

The warehouse was crammed with motor homes, antiques and artwork. Rooms were partitioned with tapestries, pianos, old windows and created a labyrinth for those unfamiliar with the space. A makeshift staircase fashioned out of old wood and pallets made up the main entrance to the second floor and few safety features were installed throughout the space.

Federal investigators never determined a cause of the blaze, but one testified in a preliminary hearing that she believes it was from electrical issues.

Defense attorneys have argued that police, firefighters and child service workers all toured the warehouse before the fire and failed to report it for dangerous conditions.

The prosecution will present two more rebuttal witnesses Tuesday. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin July 29.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @SarRavani



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