Four years, lifetime burden
Band manager is sentenced in R.I. club fire
PROVIDENCE -- Minutes after he wept through an apology yesterday to the families of the 100 who died, Daniel M. Biechele was sentenced to four years in prison for lighting the fireworks that sparked the 2003 Station nightclub fire.
''Mr. Biechele, the greatest sentence that can be imposed upon you has been imposed upon you by yourself, that is, having to live a lifetime knowing that your actions were a proximate cause of the deaths of 100 people," said Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr., as he announced the sentence, less than half the 10 years in prison that prosecutors requested.
Some relatives of the dead moaned and cried out as Darigan announced his sentence and afterward said they were incensed that Biechele, the first person to be convicted in the deaths, would not spend more time in prison.
Biechele's lawyers had requested that he be sentenced to community service, with no prison time. Biechele could be eligible for parole in about 16 months.
The Feb. 20, 2003 fire was the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in US history.
As Biechele, the tour manager for the heavy metal band Great White, was led away in handcuffs for the drive to the state prison in Cranston, Patricia Belanger, whose daughter, Dina DeMaio, died in the fire, yelled in the courtroom to Biechele's parents, ''What do you think of your son now?"
''He's got his family," Belanger said later, outside the courthouse. ''What do we [have]?" Now, she said, Biechele's mother will ''suffer just like we've been suffering because of her son."
''He's going to serve less time than we have already served," said Annmarie Swidwa, mother of victim Bridget Sanetti.
Biechele, who pleaded guilty in February to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter, addressed the victims' families and Darigan, sobbing, just before the sentence was handed down. He apologized for his actions, saying he never meant to harm anyone.
''I don't know that I'll ever forgive myself for what happened that night, so I can't expect anyone else to," he said.
As Darigan announced his sentence -- 15 years with 11 years suspended -- he cautioned that reading the sentence as a measure of the value of the lives of those who died would only dishonor their memories.
''You and the victims' families will forever be mindful of that fateful night, and it is not within the power of this or any other court to fashion a sentence reflective of the enormity of the tragedy," he said.
Prosecutors had sought 10 years, the maximum sentence allowed under the plea agreement. In his statement in court, Assistant Attorney General Randall White reminded Darigan of the dozens of relatives of the dead who had given moving statements over two previous days.
''The suffering is endless, and the extent and the depth of the pain is bottomless," White said.
But some of the relatives said that punishing Biechele, 29, who had been living in Florida with his wife, whom he married last month, would not bring their loved ones back.
Sarah Mancini, whose son, Keith, died in the fire said she felt Biechele's sentence was appropriate. No matter how many years he spends in jail, she said, her son will still be dead.
''I lost my son," she said. ''I will miss him till I die. But I can feel this young man's pain as well as my son's loss."
Biechele's lawyer, Thomas G. Briody, said his client showed courage by deciding to plead guilty, against the advice of his attorneys.
''Daniel Biechele is the only man in this tragedy to stand up and say, 'I did something wrong,' " Briody said. ''He's the only one to apologize."
Biechele wrote letters to the families of each of the victims, apologizing for his role in the fire. Darigan said the handwritten letters will be made available to the families by the court in the future.
Briody argued that the fire was caused by a deadly series of building-code violations in the nightclub, circumstances beyond Biechele's control.
Biechele could not have known that the soundproofing foam along the walls was highly flammable or that the club's exits would not allow everyone to leave the building quickly enough to escape the fire, he said.
''Daniel Biechele's conduct alone is not the cause of the horror, the carnage, the destruction at the Station nightclub," Briody said.
Attorney General Patrick Lynch said he was disappointed that Darigan had not imposed a longer sentence, but defended the plea agreement with Biechele.
Nearly 10 months after the fire, a grand jury indicted Biechele and club owners Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, who are brothers, on 200 criminal counts using two different theories of involuntary manslaughter: 100 counts of misdemeanor manslaughter and 100 counts of criminal negligence. Many victims and their families said state fire and regulatory officials, as well as band members, were also at fault.
When Biechele's plea deal was announced in January, the criminal negligence charges were dropped.
The misdemeanor manslaughter charge, which is a felony, referred to his lighting the pyrotechnics without a license. In the case of the Derderians, the misdemeanor charges stem from the use of soundproofing insulation that was not flame-retardant.
Michael Derderian's trial is scheduled to begin July 31; no trial date has been set in his brother's case.
Lynch would not discuss whether Biechele would testify against the Derderians or any details of the case against them.
Andrew Horwitz, a professor at the Ralph R. Papitto School of Law at Roger Williams University in Bristol and director of the school's criminal defense clinic, said Biechele will probably testify if the Derderians go to trial.
Horwitz said he was surprised that the plea deal did not include an agreement that Biechele would cooperate with prosecutors. ''It continues to surprise me," he said.
Such cooperation agreements are common in plea deals and the fact that this agreement was reached without Biechele agreeing to cooperate means that if Biechele does take the witness stand against the Derderians, his testimony will be more credible, Horwitz said.
Horwitz said the case against the Derderians -- that installing the soundproofing foam was the direct cause of death for each of the 100 victims -- will be difficult for prosecutors to prove.
J. Richard Ratcliffe, a Providence lawyer and former chairman of the Rhode Island Bar Association's Criminal Law Bench/Bar Committee, said Darigan's ruling is significant for the Derderians in that it sets a benchmark for punishment in the criminal cases.
Biechele's sentence will be one piece of information used by the Derderians and their lawyers to decide whether to go to trial or seek a plea bargain, Ratcliffe said, and he noted that the Derderians should not expect to receive similar leniency.
Lawyers for the Derderians could not be reached for comment.
Matthew Brelis and Ralph Ranalli of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Kathleen Burge can be reached at kburge@globe.com. 