Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Two men are expected to plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the Ghost Ship fire which blazed through an Oakland, California, warehouse party, in December 2016, killing 36 people. The Mercury News reports that Derick Almena, 48, and Max Harris, 28, have accepted county jail terms of six and nine years, respectively, allowing them to avoid a jury trial that was due to begin this month. Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Lim told victims’ families that Almena faces a nine-year prison term while Harris will be handed a six-year sentence, and 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 36 people inside the art collective warehouse known as Ghost Ship. Almena was the head of the art collective and Harris the executive director who collected rent from other residents.