Digital Extra: The Station Fire

09:57 AM EDT on Friday, August 5, 2005

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE -- The state has turned over to defense attorneys more than 800 autopsy photos of victims of the deadly Station nightclub fire, as preparations for a criminal trial continue.

DVDs containing the photographs were released to lawyers for defendants Michael and Jeffrey Derderian and Dan Biechele as part of the pretrial evidence exchange process.

The state also turned over several documents, according to court papers filed in Providence Superior Court on Wednesday.

The Derderians and Biechele each face 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at the West Warwick club that killed 100 people. They have pleaded innocent.

The photos are of the 96 victims who died at the scene. Another four died in the hospital in the weeks after the blaze.

The Derderian brothers owned the nightclub. Biechele was the tour manager for the band Great White, which was playing at the club when the fire began. He ignited the pyrotechnics that sparked the blaze.

In addition to the autopsy photos, the state gave defense lawyers photos taken at Michael Derderian's Narragansett address. Court documents did not give any details on what those photos were.