OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) The founder of an artists work-live collective in the San Francisco Bay Area where a fast-moving fire trapped and killed 36 partygoers three years ago will be tried again on manslaughter charges, prosecutors said Friday.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The founder of an artists’ work-live collective in the San Francisco Bay Area where a fast-moving fire trapped and killed 36 partygoers three years ago will be tried again on manslaughter charges, prosecutors said Friday.
Alameda County prosecutors said they decided on a retrial after a jury last month deadlocked on whether to find Derick Almena, 49, guilty or innocent. Jurors split 10-2 in favor of finding him guilty.
The same jury acquitted his co-defendant Max Harris, 29, of manslaughter charges
in September after an emotionally taxing three-month trial that drained family and friends of defendants and victims.
Sobs and gasps erupted from stunned family and friends of the victims when the judge declared a mistrial, and several victims’ relatives said at the time they felt cheated by the verdicts.
Colleen Dolan, whose daughter Chelsea died in the fire, attended the first trial and said she will attend the retrial.
“I miss her every day, I miss her every night. I think about the fire every day and every night and I do want the man who was responsible to be held accountable,” she said Friday.
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