dixiegirl1035
I will do it, but I won't like it
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KTVU's Ghost Ship trial courtroom blog
May 20, 4 p.m.
David Harlan, engineering manager for the city of Oakland's planning and building department, took the stand this afternoon. He said the warehouse was zoned for storage, not for residential use or "assemblies," or large gatherings.
He said the only permit on file for the building on 31st Avenue dated back to 1951, when it was a dairy creamery. Under questioning by prosecutor Casey Bates, Harlan said that any additional construction work in the warehouse would have required permits, such as improving the electricity or plumbing, adding a set of stairs and converting the space into residential living spaces.
Outside court, Curtis Briggs, an attorney for Max Harris, pounced on the revelation about the decades-old permit, saying the prosecution had offered up a new line of questioning for the defense. He said if the previous and current owners hadn't properly obtained proper permits for the building, then his client and master tenant Derick Almena couldn't be expected to be responsible for doing so.
Also today, former tenant Adam Kennon, a carpenter testified that he had "no issues" with the stairs in the warehouse that have been the subject of intense prosecutorial scrutiny. "The stairs were fine," he said.
Asked by the defense if he thought the warehouse was a fire danger, he said no, adding at least not before the deadly fire. "Hindsight is 20-20, you know," Kennon said. He also testified that he had hung at least two smoke detectors in his space in the warehouse. They each contained batteries that didn't need to be replaced for five years, he said.
Dr. Michael Ferenc was the third forensic pathologist on the stand. He too said that of the autopies he conducted, all the victims died of smoke inhalation.
San Francisco police Officer William Bardsley testified that he was an Oakland police sergeant in December 2014, when he responded to the warehouse to investigate reports of a battery. Bardsley testified that a tenant was arrested while Almena was cited and released for battery .
10:30 a.m.
Week 3 of testimony in the Ghost Ship trial began with weeping on the witness stand by Alexis Abrams-Bourke, whose boyfriend Nick Walrath was among the 36 people who died in the fire.
She burst into tears when asked to describe who Walrath was. “He was my partner,” she said.
At 9:22 p.m. the night of the fire, Walrath texted her, “Wow I just uncovered a whole new level of underground Oakland music LOL involving having to call a phone number and listen to a voice mail for the address of an event
”
She said she then received a text from Walrath at 11:25 p.m. that said, “I love you.”
That same minute, he sent a second text that said simply, “Fire.”
Abrams-Bourke told the jury she thought he meant there was a bonfire at the music event.
A second witness, Alexa Burrell testified that her friend Nicole Siegrist was one of the victims.
Siegrist texted, “There’s a fire here” at 11:23 p.m. “I thought she was referencing a bonfire,” Burrell said.
Burrell said she arrived at the warehouse about five minutes after the text. “The building was just swallowed in flames,” she said.
May 20, 4 p.m.
David Harlan, engineering manager for the city of Oakland's planning and building department, took the stand this afternoon. He said the warehouse was zoned for storage, not for residential use or "assemblies," or large gatherings.
He said the only permit on file for the building on 31st Avenue dated back to 1951, when it was a dairy creamery. Under questioning by prosecutor Casey Bates, Harlan said that any additional construction work in the warehouse would have required permits, such as improving the electricity or plumbing, adding a set of stairs and converting the space into residential living spaces.
Outside court, Curtis Briggs, an attorney for Max Harris, pounced on the revelation about the decades-old permit, saying the prosecution had offered up a new line of questioning for the defense. He said if the previous and current owners hadn't properly obtained proper permits for the building, then his client and master tenant Derick Almena couldn't be expected to be responsible for doing so.
Also today, former tenant Adam Kennon, a carpenter testified that he had "no issues" with the stairs in the warehouse that have been the subject of intense prosecutorial scrutiny. "The stairs were fine," he said.
Asked by the defense if he thought the warehouse was a fire danger, he said no, adding at least not before the deadly fire. "Hindsight is 20-20, you know," Kennon said. He also testified that he had hung at least two smoke detectors in his space in the warehouse. They each contained batteries that didn't need to be replaced for five years, he said.
Dr. Michael Ferenc was the third forensic pathologist on the stand. He too said that of the autopies he conducted, all the victims died of smoke inhalation.
San Francisco police Officer William Bardsley testified that he was an Oakland police sergeant in December 2014, when he responded to the warehouse to investigate reports of a battery. Bardsley testified that a tenant was arrested while Almena was cited and released for battery .
10:30 a.m.
Week 3 of testimony in the Ghost Ship trial began with weeping on the witness stand by Alexis Abrams-Bourke, whose boyfriend Nick Walrath was among the 36 people who died in the fire.
She burst into tears when asked to describe who Walrath was. “He was my partner,” she said.
At 9:22 p.m. the night of the fire, Walrath texted her, “Wow I just uncovered a whole new level of underground Oakland music LOL involving having to call a phone number and listen to a voice mail for the address of an event
”She said she then received a text from Walrath at 11:25 p.m. that said, “I love you.”
That same minute, he sent a second text that said simply, “Fire.”
Abrams-Bourke told the jury she thought he meant there was a bonfire at the music event.
A second witness, Alexa Burrell testified that her friend Nicole Siegrist was one of the victims.
Siegrist texted, “There’s a fire here” at 11:23 p.m. “I thought she was referencing a bonfire,” Burrell said.
Burrell said she arrived at the warehouse about five minutes after the text. “The building was just swallowed in flames,” she said.
