Alameda County's district attorney has told a judge she will no longer consider plea deals for two men charged in a 2016 warehouse fire that killed 36 people attending an unlicensed concert, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
In a letter to the judge presiding over the case, District Attorney Nancy O'Malley also asked for a trial date to be set soon on the 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter each man faces.
The two are scheduled to appear in court on Friday for the first time since Judge James Cramer rejected a plea deal negotiated by O'Malley's office and lawyers for Derick Almena and Max Harris.
O'Malley told the judge she changed her position on plea negotiations after grieving families of the fire victims testified last week that that they were unhappy with the proposed prison sentences, which they felt were too short.
Many of the relatives also demanded that the two men stand trial so they could learn more about how and why their loved ones died. Investigators have been unable to determine the cause of the Dec. 2, 2016 fire.