by Bob Walsh
The lawyers for the defendants in the horrific Ghost Ship fire in Oakland a couple of years back that killed 36 people are going with the old Some Other Dude Did It defense.
The defendants are alleging that the December 2016 fire was in fact deliberately set by people who took off almost immediately after setting it and that their action and not the fact that the place was an illegal and unpermitted fire trap was the proximate cause of the deaths.
Only one of the dead was a semi-resident of the building. All of the others were attendees at a party being thrown there.
No official cause of the fire has ever been determined.
One thing in the defendant's favor, various government agencies, including the fire department and CPS, had visited the facility and the facility never received a hazardous conditions or cease-and-desist notice. A few heads rolled within Oakland government over this and more fire inspectors and code inspectors were hired as a direct result of the fire.
Both men, Max Harris, 29, and Derick Almena, 49, are looking at 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter.
2 comments:
Oakland Officials have egg on their face over this one. A low ball deal could be in the works to make it go away.
They tried that and it blew up in their faces.
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