Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Daniel Michael Biechele can be given no more than 10 years in prison.

08:52 AM EDT on Monday, May 8, 2006

BY PAUL EDWARD PARKER
Journal Staff Writer

Daniel Michael Biechele will learn his punishment this week for triggering the Station nightclub fire three years ago.

On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. will sentence Biechele, 29, of Winter Springs, Fla., on 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each person who died in the West Warwick fire.

Prosecutors have asked Darigan to send Biechele to prison for 10 years, the maximum sentence allowed under an agreement that accompanied Biechele's guilty plea in February. Biechele's lawyer has urged the court to sentence his client to community service.

Before Darigan announces his decision, relatives of those who died will have today and tomorrow to tell the judge how the fire and the death of their loved ones have affected them.

Then Biechele will address the court.

Biechele touched off the fire on Feb. 20, 2003, when he ignited fireworks that highlighted the entrance of rock band Great White onto the stage at The Station. The fireworks showered hot sparks onto the nightclub's wall, which had been covered with highly flammable polyurethane foam after neighbors complained about noise from the club.

Shooting off fireworks was just one of many duties Biechele performed as tour manager for Great White. He was also in charge of booking hotel rooms for the band, collecting its fee at each venue and making arrangements for shows with club managers and promoters, his lawyer, Thomas G. Briody, wrote in a court filing last week.

"Daniel Biechele loved being part of the music business, so much that he took on the difficult task of managing a rock and roll tour," Briody wrote. "He assumed great responsibility in exchange for low pay, long hours, dingy hotels, dank nightclubs and meals consumed on a bus."

Biechele also was in charge of keeping the band's tour bus in order, which meant enforcing a ban on drugs and alcohol.

"The men on the bus looked up to Dan, despite the fact that many of them were much older than their young manager," Briody wrote.

The February 2003 appearance was not the first time Biechele had been to The Station. In fact, it was not even the first time he had shot off fireworks in the building, according to his lawyer. Biechele had used pyrotechnics in the tiny club in 2000, when he was the manager for another band, W.A.S.P.

Biechele had never had formal training in using fireworks, court filings say.

Challenges like that never daunted Biechele, according to letters of support from friends and family that have been submitted to Darigan.

"He is an enthusiastic learner and was never afraid to work and work hard," wrote Steve Duren, according to an excerpt in a court filing.

"Most people would look for a reason to get out of helping on an outdoor project in 95-degree heat," wrote Christian and Jessica Durning. "Dan, however, offered his help without being asked."

"This is a man who can be counted on no matter what," wrote Ericka Trevino.

Biechele was born Oct. 8, 1976, in New York state. He graduated from high school and spent his early 20s paying his dues in the music business.

Since the fire, he has abandoned his career in entertainment. He has been working at a flooring company during the day and taking accounting classes at night at Seminole Community College, in Florida. According to his lawyer, he has a 4.0 grade point average, and his employer has told him he will have a job waiting, even if he goes to prison.

When Biechele entered his guilty plea on Feb. 7, he was accompanied in court by his parents, Raymond J. and Patricia A. Biechele, and his fiancée, Mandy Terese Gura, an Illinois native living in Casselberry, Fla.

Gura was Biechele's high school sweetheart, according to his lawyer. They met 14 years ago while bagging groceries, according to a court filing.

On April 8, they were married in a religious ceremony in Lake Mary, Fla., according to court records.

"The one thing that sticks out in my head the most about this wonderful man is that he is still the same person I met bagging groceries 14 years ago," Gura Biechele wrote in a letter to Darigan.

His parents also have submitted letters.

"Dan would never knowingly do anything to harm another person," wrote his mother.

And his father:

"He understands that his mistake was one of many that were made leading up to the fire but, because of the type of individual Danny is, he only knows how to take the responsibility onto himself."

pparker@projo.com / (401) 277-7360