Digital Extra: The Station Fire

05:51 PM EDT on Friday, August 26, 2005

By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press Writer

PROVIDENCE - - The owners of The Station nightclub asked a judge today to throw out half of the manslaughter counts stemming from a deadly fire in 2003.

In a joint motion filed in Superior Court, lawyers for Jeffrey and Michael Derderian said fire inspectors never told the brothers that they were violating the state fire code by installing highly flammable foam in the West Warwick club they owned.

"It is only after notice of the non-compliance and an opportunity to cure can any person be charged with an unlawful act for the violation of this regulatory provision," Kathleen Hagerty, a lawyer for the Derderians, wrote in her motion.

The Derderians and Dan Biechele, former tour manager for the rock band Great White, each face 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter. They were charged under two different theories of manslaughter. The defendants want the judge to throw out the charges brought under one of those theories, the so-called misdemeanor manslaughter charges.

The indictments result from a fast-moving fire that tore through the West Warwick nightclub during a Feb. 20, 2003, rock concert, killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.

The fire, triggered by a pyrotechnics display during a Great White concert, spread quickly after igniting the foam that the nightclub had used as soundproofing.

Biechele also filed a motion seeking to have charges dismissed.

Attorney General Patrick Lynch said in a statement that the defense request was expected and not unusual.

He vowed to challenge the motions in court.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Mark Arsenault.