Digital Extra: The Station Fire

01:47 PM EDT on Friday, September 24, 2004

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE -- A list of potential witnesses and a report detailing tests on foam taken from The Station nightclub were among the hundreds of documents given to defense attorneys today, as preparations for a criminal trial stemming from the deadly fire at the club proceeded.

Lawyers for Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, the club's former owners, and Daniel Biechele, the then-tour manager for the band Great White, met with Superior Court Judge Francis Darigan today to exchange the materials, and to discuss future testing the state wants to conduct on evidence seized from the club.

Darigan also granted two motions by Kathleen Hagerty, a lawyer for the Derderians. She asked for attendance records from the grand jury that issued the indictments, and for all audiotapes or other records of the Derderians' appearances before the Town Council of West Warwick, where the club was located.

The Derderians and Biechele each face 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the wake of the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at the club, which killed 100 people and injured more than 200 others. All three have pleaded innocent.

The fire began when pyrotechnics Biechele ignited set ablaze flammable foam placed around the club's stage as soundproofing.

Hagerty has said Michael Derderian discussed the installation of soundproofing foam at a Town Council meeting as one way he was addressing noise complaints. Town officials who were at the meeting have said they don't recall what the Derderians said, and audiotapes reviewed by The Associated Press include no mention of the foam. One of the audiotapes of one meeting is incomplete and does not contain the portion in which the club's entertainment license was discussed.

Hagerty said today she stood by her earlier comments on what the brothers told the council, but would not discuss today's motion, citing a judge's order not to talk about the case.

"I can't comment on that," Hagerty said when asked what attorneys were looking for in the tapes.

The documents turned over today included a June 9, 2000, letter from foam distributor American Foam to Michael Derderian.

Lists of the documents included in the exchange were filed in court, but the materials themselves were not, and were not publicly available.

The document inventories give a glimpse of the evidence the state has gathered, and include a list of possible state witnesses and what they will testify to if called.

According to the inventories, the evidence includes reports on interviews with personnel at nightclubs around the country, and a report by a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives official on pyrotechnics seized from the fire scene and from Russell's NightClub in Bangor, Maine.

They also include Jeffrey Derderian's employment application to Sunrise Television Corp., and a 155-page transcript of an interview of Biechele conducted at the offices of the state attorney general.