Attorneys for one of the two men charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in Oakland’s Ghost Ship fire denied on Friday claims from prosecutors that their client blocked an exit stairwell at the warehouse and turned the structure into a death trap.
Lawyers for Max Harris, 27, dismissed the accusations as an attempt to make him a fall guy for the fire that killed 36 people and added that Harris actually tried to save lives as soon as the fire broke out during a music event on Dec. 2.
Harris and co-defendant Derick Almena, 47, the master tenant of the Ghost Ship, were expected to enter formal pleas at the Alameda County Superior Court before Judge Stuart Hing on Friday, but the hearing was postponed until July 7.