Judge in Ghost Ship Trial speaks out after acquittal, mistrial

OAKLAND (KRON) — The high profile criminal trial in the Ghost Ship fire is over.

Now the judge who presided over the case is speaking out.

KRON4’s Haaziq Madyun caught up with Judge Trina Thompson at the Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland to get some of her reflections of the courtroom process during the Ghost Ship Fire trial, the day after the jury acquitted Max Harris and deadlocked on the charges against co-defendant Derick Almena. 

Thompson says both the prosecution and defense made stellar legal efforts on behalf of the people and the defendants

“Mr. Serra, Mr. Getz consummate professionals,” the judge said.

The jury deliberated on a 4-day schedule with the judge deciding to give them friday’s off. she explains why.

“These are individuals who are not getting paid,” Thompson said.

She talks about the decision to have no cameras allowed in the courtroom during the trial, saying it was a collective decision.

Judge Thompson is the first African American woman elected to be a judge in Alameda County, where she has ruled on the bench for the past 16-years. 

She is also a lecturer at UC Berkeley Department of Ethnic Studies in the College of Letters and Science.