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OAKLAND — A year and a half after a fire blazed through an East Oakland warehouse party, killing 36 people, two men are expected to plead no contest Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter charges and accept county jail terms of six and nine years.

The pleas by Derick Almena, 48, and Max Harris, 28, would close a chapter in the Dec. 2, 2016, Ghost Ship warehouse fire — one of the state’s deadliest building infernos — and avoid a jury trial scheduled to begin July 16.

An email sent Saturday by Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Lim to victims’ families says Almena has agreed to a nine-year prison term and Harris to a six-year sentence. Both would serve their time in an Alameda County jail instead of state prison.

Prosecutors have argued that Almena and Harris were criminally negligent in causing the deaths of the 36 people inside the art collective warehouse known as Ghost Ship, or Satya Yuga, at 1305 31st Ave. Almena was the head of the art collective and Harris the self-titled executive director who collected rent from other residents.

Sami Kopelman, the mother of one victim, 34-year-old Edmond Lapine, isn’t pleased with the plea deal. Kopelman said her son was passionate about music and had gone that night to see his friend Joey “Casio” Matlock perform; both perished in the fire.

“It’s as though they (prosecutors) said, ‘Let’s get this one out of the way … so we can deal with these murders … and give those the max attention,’ ” she said Monday.

Kopelman, who lives in Washington, said she would have liked to see each defendant get 36 years in prison, one for each life lost.

“I don’t want my son’s life or those of the other victims, no matter what their circumstances were for being there, I don’t want the value of their lives to be lessened by a sweep aside,” Kopelman said.

She doesn’t plan to attend their sentencing, which likely will take place several months from now.

“I don’t think I could bear to see those two men in person,” she said.

In the email to families, Lim wrote that while Almena and Harris could get a longer sentence if the case went to trial, there’s also a chance the jury could acquit them or a judge could give them probation with no time served in jail.

A jury trial was expected to last four to six months, “with every detail of December 2 presented as evidence in shocking detail,” Lim wrote.

“This would include making public disturbing photos of the victims. While we would be willing to do that for the possibility of a higher sentence for the defendants, the current plea bargain is within the range of what we think a Judge would sentence the Defendant’s to after a jury trial, and it spares families from having to re-live the tragedy of December 2,” Lim wrote.

Mary Alexander, an attorney who represents 11 victims’ families in a civil case, said the important thing is that the two men are held responsible and go to jail.

“It’s always hard to go through a criminal trial, especially one as emotional as this. And they were willing to do that, but now they won’t have two trials,” she said.

The civil case, which also names the Ghost Ship building’s owners, the Ng family, is expected to begin in October 2019. The families, who include Kopelman, want the Ng family to also face criminal charges.

But in an interview with this news organization earlier this year, District Attorney Nancy O’Malley hinted that the Ng family would not be charged unless evidence implicating them surfaces.

She said the owners were somewhat separated from what was actually happening inside the building once they handed it over to the leaseholders, who “completely misused it.” The leaseholders blocked exits so people couldn’t get out of there, she said.

“As a result, when the floor collapsed, they didn’t die from being burned, they died from smoke inhalation,” O’Malley said.

If the back staircase had not been blocked, people would have been able to escape, she said.

“Really, the death of those individuals and the condition the Ghost Ship property was in, was at the hands of Almena and Harris,” she said.

Mike Madden, father of victim Griffin Madden, reacted to news of the plea deal by stating that the focus now should remain on the city of Oakland.

“The criminal conviction of the (two) defendants on 36 counts of manslaughter, who knowingly put the lives of others at risk for their own benefit, is only the first step in holding the individuals and the government agencies accountable for the deaths of our family members,” Madden said.

The prosecution argued that Almena on his own accord changed the use of the warehouse from commercial to residential. The lease he signed outlined that the space was to be used for an art collective “to build and create theatrical sets and offer workshops for community outreach.”

Instead, Almena allowed as many as 25 people to live there, built a staircase and cut a large hole in the second floor, all without proper permits, according to prosecutors.

During a six-day preliminary hearing in December 2017, a fire inspector testified that the building hadn’t been formally inspected by the fire department since 1930. Witnesses called the place a “death trap,” describing a maze of items that filled the space from floor to ceiling that included art pieces, pianos, furniture and even trailers.

The night of the fire was supposed to be a celebration, a dance party held on the second floor. Investigators concluded the fire originated in the northwest, back corner of the building, but were not able to determine a cause.

The “sheer amount” of materials inside the warehouse — including RVs, campers, pianos and other instruments as well as art and furniture — contributed significantly to the fire, investigators said.

Jonathan Axtell testified during the preliminary hearing that he attended the dance party and met with friends Hanna Ruax, 32, of Finland, and Alex Ghassan, 35, Oakland, who both perished in the fire that night.

Axtell said he saw smoke rising from the floor that night and Ruax crossing the room. He made his way toward the “obviously handmade” staircase, assuming his friends were following close behind. Smoke was pouring up the stairs from below.

In the pitch black as smoke enveloped him, Axtell said he held his breath and made his way down the wooden staircase, his arms stretched out. Once he reached the first floor, still dark with smoke, he eventually felt around and touched what he thought was a wall but instead was the exit door.

Once outside, he waited for his friends to emerge too.

“I realized no one else was coming out,” he said.