A day of tears and anger in R.I. court

WARWICK, R.I. -- Resisting wrenching pleas for harsher sentences by relatives of many of the 100 people killed in The Station nightclub fire, a Rhode Island judge yesterday sentenced one of the club's owners to four years in prison and spared the other jail time for their roles in one of the deadliest fires in US history.

Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. imposed the sentences on brothers Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, as part of a controversial plea bargain. More than two-dozen relatives of those killed assailed the sentences in court as insults to the memories of their loved ones and to the criminal justice system.

One after another they took the stand over the long, grueling day, alternately sobbing for their lost loved ones and condemning the judge. One man asked for his son's name to be excised from the victims listed in the indictment. One woman said she wanted to renounce her citizenship.

Jay McLaughlin, a Pawtucket firefighter whose brother-in-law and sister-in-law died in the fire, said he hated the state but was cut off by the judge, who immediately called a recess.

When the proceedings resumed, Darigan warned McLaughlin to confine his remarks to how the fire has affected him, but McLaughlin ignored him. ``The only thing I've learned from these court proceedings is that lady justice in Rhode Island is blind, but she's also deaf," he said, as spectators in the courtroom applauded.

At the start of the proceedings, Darigan had specified that comments be limited to how the deaths of loved ones had changed the witnesses' lives. All comments were to be addressed to him, not to the defendants. And he prohibited criticism of the Derderians or the way the plea deal was fashioned. ``This isn't a public hearing; this isn't a rally," he told one witness whom he cut off.

Relative after relative told harrowing stories of waiting several days to determine if their loved one had perished in the fire; authorities were unable to identify some victims because their bodies were charred. They often had to rely on dental records.

Susan Rezendes, whose younger sister, Linda, was killed, said she looked at the horribly burned woman at the funeral home and realized she must have been trampled because her watch was crushed. ``Who stepped on her and stomped her watch?" she said in a soft voice. ``Who trampled my sister?"

Governor Donald Carcieri said in a statement later, ``Nobody who witnessed today's emotional testimony could believe that the punishment fit the crime."

Acknowledging the ``almost incomprehensible" carnage caused by the February 2003 fire in West Warwick, Darigan said he considered several factors when he approved the deal over the objections of prosecutors.

Darigan said he had seen ``horrifying and gruesome" photographs of victims and an ``extremely disturbing" 20-minute videotape from the night of the fire that could further traumatize the public. Other factors he cited were uncertain prospects for convictions, the Derderians' clean criminal records, and the difficulty of selecting an impartial jury in a state where most people know someone touched by the disaster.

``This court has always acutely been aware that no resolution of these cases, whether by trial or by plea, would ever satisfy everyone in this community," he said. But, he added, he hoped the sentences would ``bring some measure of relief to this heartbreaking chapter in our shared history."

The judge imposed the sentences after the Derderians each pleaded no contest to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from their installation of flammable, sound-absorbing polyurethane foam inside the club in violation of the state fire code. Michael got the harsher sentence because he bought the foam, which both brothers installed.

Speaking at length publicly for the first time since they held a brief press conference two days after the Feb. 20, 2003 disaster, the brothers each read statements apologizing for their roles in the country's fourth-deadliest nightclub fire.

``There are many days I wish I didn't make it out of that building," Jeffrey Derderian, 39, said, sobbing, as Michael Derderian, sitting with his lawyers, covered his face and wept. ``I know that many of you would have liked it if I died there, too."

Jeffrey Derderian, a former local television reporter, who was shooting a news segment at The Station about nightclub safety when the fire erupted, will avoid jail, but must perform 500 hours of community service.

Michael Derderian, 45, who will serve four years in a minimum-security prison, was more composed when he took the witness stand. He said he wished he had never used the soundproofing foam, which acted like gasoline, according to fire specialists, causing flames to quickly engulf the club and trapping patrons who stampeded for the front door.

``I'm sorry that we did not ask more questions about the deadly and toxic foam that we hung on the walls of our business," he said.

Several relatives of victims urged the judge to have Jeffrey perform his community service in a hospital burn center. Later, Jeffrey said he had already considered working with burn patients.

The small courtroom was packed with relatives of those who perished and with survivors. Some had mottled scars running the lengths of their arms. Others wore T-shirts commemorating victims of the fire or lockets and buttons bearing pictures of the dead.

The Station fire prompted several states, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts, to tighten fire code regulations for commercial businesses. It also prompted the Rhode Island Legislature to pass a criminal law that would enable injured survivors of such a fire to be considered crime victims. Because no such law existed at the time of The Station disaster, Darigan said, no charges were filed against anyone for the more than 200 people maimed at the roadhouse.

In May, Darigan sentenced Daniel Biechele, the tour manager for the rock band Great White that was performing when the fire broke out, to four years in prison in another plea deal. Biechele had set off a pyrotechnic display that caused foam behind the stage to catch fire. He was the only other person charged in the fire.

Several of the relatives who addressed the judge accused the Derderians of greed for packing the nightclub beyond the legal occupancy rate the night of the fire. They also assailed Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, who objected to the deal when it first became public 10 days ago but who had previously authorized his prosecutors to negotiate a plea bargain.

But they directed their harshest criticism at the judge, who they said had subverted the judicial system. ``Before I read my statement, I like to just say I will address you, but I will not say `your honor.' I don't think you're an honorable man. I don't respect you," said Annmarie Swidwa, mother of Bridget Sanetti, who died in the blaze. ``We didn't do anything wrong, but we didn't get a trial, and we all received a life sentence."

Robert Johnson Sr., whose son, Derek Johnson, was killed in the fire, trembled as he asked Darigan to remove his son's name from the indictment listing people who perished at the nightclub. ``Now, they only got 99," he said.

Next to the main courtroom, an overflow crowd of more than 100 spectators, most of them relatives of victims, watched the proceeding on a large television screen. Many held hands and wept. Others jeered.

When Darigan said at the start of the proceedings that nothing anyone said would cause him to change his mind about the plea agreement, epithets flowed.

``To hell with him," said Jerry Fontaine, who lost his 22-year-old son, Mark A. Fontaine, in the fire. ``I've got to get some air."