The judge overseeing the sentencing for the two men charged with the deaths of 36 people in the infamous Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland in December 2016 tossed their plea deal on Friday, leaving the men to face trial and potential life sentences instead of the six and nine year sentences they had initially been given.
Derick Almena, 48, and Max Harris, 28, two men who were considerable responsible for the safety of the East Oakland warehouse dubbed “Ghost Ship,” where 36 people died during a ghastly December 2, 2016 blaze, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges on Tuesday.
On Monday, authorities arrested the “master tenant” and the creative director of the illegally-converted Oakland warehouse, known as the “Ghost Ship,” where a large fire took the lives of 36 people in December. The two were charged with involuntary manslaughter.
On Friday, the arts community in Los Angeles attempted to create its own response to the crackdown on unsafe warehouses throughout the Golden State in the wake of the fire in Oakland’s “Ghost Ship” over two weeks ago in which 36 people died.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) said Tuesday that there is “no final determination” in the Oakland fire that took 36 lives at the “Ghost Ship” warehouse on the night of December 2, but noted that overloaded electrical lines and wiring were “part of the analysis” authorities are looking at in order to determine the origin of the deadly flames.
The “Ghost Ship,” the warehouse and artists’ colony where 36 people lost their lives in the Oakland fire last Friday night, was “a serious attempt to bring the Black Oakland culture back into the art scene,” former resident Alexander Doré told Breitbart News. However, that vision was overrun by what Doré referred to as the “Burning Man crowd.”
The weak inspection system that critics fault for Friday’s deadly Oakland fire has come under new scrutiny following revelations that the city’s fire department has been lax in ensuring the safety of local buildings.
Several victims of Friday’s devastating Oakland fire texted goodbye messages to their families from inside the deadly inferno that has so far claimed 36 lives.
