Former Enfield Resident Awaits Trial For 36 Oakland Fire Deaths

ENFIELD, CT/OAKLAND, CA — Ten years ago, Max Harris was a free-spirited, artistic student at Enfield High School who went on to study at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, then moved to Brooklyn and eventually wound up in California, where he became part of an artists' collective in an old Oakland warehouse known as the Ghost Ship.

The Ghost Ship went up in flames during a party attended by about 100 guests on the night of Dec. 2, 2016. Thirty-six of those guests perished, and Harris, who reportedly had received admission fees at the door and arranged the room prior to the party, found himself charged, along with another man, in connection with Oakland's deadliest fire.

Today, Harris sits in a cell in the Santa Rita Jail, awaiting trial on 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter. He had pleaded "no contest" to each of the 36 charges in July 2018, accepting a plea deal that would impose a 6-year prison sentence on him. However, at the sentencing hearing in August, a judge threw out the plea deal and ordered Harris and Derick Almena to stand trial, according to published reports.

The New York Times Magazine published an extensive story about Harris last week, which can be read in full here.

Photo courtesy of Enfield Historical Society via archive.org
Video by KTVU via YouTube

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