Months after the heartbreaking Ghost Ship fire in the Fruitvale district of Oakland, the two operators of the warehouse – Derick Almena and Max Harris – plead not guilty this week to the 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter held against them.
Almena and Harris were arrested and charged in June of this year. The documents used to charge the two suspects claim that they created a hazardous environment within the warehouse and broke numerous Oakland municipal laws by doing so.
A pre-trial conference will be held on November 7th, followed by a preliminary hearing for the case on November 14th. The individuals could, if charged, face up to 39 years in prison each.
The warehouse fire, which happened early last December, caused the death of 36 innocent individuals that were attending an underground dance show in the warehouse at that time. This catastrophic event shook both the Bay Area and the electronic music community as a whole.
