OAKLAND, CA (KMJ) In the Ghost Ship trial, Max Harris has been acquitted.
The Oakland jury hangs on convicting Derick Almena, following the four-month trial.
The verdicts were read inside the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.
49-year-old Almena, and 29-year-old Harris each faced a maximum sentence of 39 years behind bars.
Both were charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The men were accused of turning a San Francisco Bay area warehouse into a cluttered maze where 36 partygoers died during the “Ghost Ship” fire on December 2, 2016.
Prosecutors say the men illegally converted the industrial building into an artist live-work space, and stuffed it with highly combustible materials that ended up trapping the people inside trying to escape the blaze that began during an electronic music show.
Jurors on Thursday found Max Harris not guilty but said they could not unanimously agree on whether to convict or acquit Derick Almena of involuntary manslaughter.
Almena will be retried in October.
