Ghost Ship operators plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter in fire that killed 36 people
The two men who operated the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland, Calif., pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges Tuesday after prosecutors accused them of creating a "fire trap" that killed 36 people in one of the deadliest blazes in California history.
The plea deal caps an emotional legal drama for both the city of Oakland, where the fire focused attention on the desperate lack of affordable places to live for artists and others of modest means in the San Francisco Bay Area's overheated housing market, as well as the families of the victims, many of whom attended the hearing.
"That's 36 lives, you know," David Gregory, whose
