Relatives of 36 killed in Oakland warehouse fire testify

The Associated Press

7 years ago

The Ghost Ship Warehouse after a fire swept through the building in Oakland, Calif. on Dec. 3, 2016. (KGO-TV via AP, File)

This undated file photo provided by the City of Oakland shows inside the burned warehouse after the deadly fire that broke out on Dec. 2, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. (City of Oakland via AP, File)

A member of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, left, carries away a pallet outside the site of a warehouse fire in Oakland, Calif. on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

Max Harris at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, Calif. on June 8, 2017. (Alameda County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File)

Derick Almena at Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County, Calif. on Monday, June 5, 2017. (Alameda County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File)

OAKLAND, Calif. — Relatives of 36 people killed at a warehouse fire in Northern California are testifying during the sentencing of two men convicted in their deaths.

Susan Slocumb’s 32-year-old daughter, Donna Kellogg, was killed at the warehouse during an illegal concert in 2016.

Slocumb was the first relative to testify Thursday. She says Derick Almena and Max Harris should be given lengthier sentences than a plea deal calls for.

In a plea bargain with the Alameda County district attorney’s office, Almena agreed to a nine-year prison sentence and Harris agreed to six years.

Slocum said the defendants “got off easy in the plea deal.”

Judge James Kramer opened the hearing by admonishing everybody to remain calm, saying he expected the hearing to be “heart wrenching.”