Digital Extra: The Station Fire

11:17 AM EST on Friday, March 12, 2004

PROVIDENCE - - Prosecutors and attorneys for those charged in a nightclub fire that killed 100 people met with a judge today to discuss evidence, scheduling and other housekeeping issues.

The owners of The Station nightclub, Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, and a former band tour manager are each charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deadly blaze. The Feb. 20, 2003 fire was sparked by the band's pyrotechnics.

A defense request for notes, audiotapes, minutes and agendas from West Warwick town council meetings was set aside during today's closed-door meeting, attorney Kathleen Hagerty said, because the state has agreed to give her the information she seeks.

Michael Healey, a spokesman for the attorney general, said the state has already handed over police contact reports, which detail the first time a law enforcement officer was in touch with a witness, transcripts of tape-recorded interviews of witnesses and law enforcement officials' notes from non-recorded witness interviews.

The notes and transcripts are from interviews with about 250 people whose last names start with the letters A through H and were contacted in the first few months of the state's investigation. The people were either at the club the night of the fire or had knowledge of the club or the fire. The state plans on handing over the remaining interviews at a later time, Healey said.

The defense has also been given 135 hours of grand jury testimony and a nine-page document with the names of the grand jury witnesses, said Dyana Koelsch, a spokeswoman for the state's court system.

Hagerty's request was part of an ongoing effort by the defense to obtain the evidence collected during the state's nearly 10-month long criminal investigation. The evidence swap is a standard part of criminal proceedings leading up to a possible trial.

Hagerty also has requested pieces of the foam used in the club as soundproofing. Investigators said the highly flammable, polyurethane material helped fuel the fast moving fire that also injured nearly 200 people.