PROVIDENCE Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch yesterday asked a state judge to allow public access to reams of evidence gathered in the states investigation and prosecution of three principals involved in the Station nightclub case club owners Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, and Daniel M. Biechele, who lit the indoor fireworks that ignited the fire that killed 100 people and injured 200 others.

Lynch filed a motion with Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. to open some Station investigation records, including forensic tests, expert witness statements on such issues as club overcrowding, tests on the flammability of the nightclubs ceiling foam and financial records relating to the Derderians bankruptcy case.

The action comes in the aftermath of a legal request by The Providence Journal to make public records of the wide-ranging investigation that led to prison sentences for Biechele and Michael Derderian, but not for Jeffrey Derderian, who was sentenced to community service. Lynch is committed to making public as quickly as possible everything he could make public, said Michael Healey, the attorney generals spokesman.

Yesterdays legal filing puts the issue back in Judge Darigans court. Last month, The Journal filed a public records request for the Station fire evidence. Rhode Island law requires public agencies, upon request, to either make records public or cite a legal exemption before a certain deadline. The deadline in The Journals case was Thursday.

On Thursday, Lynch refused to release any records, saying he could not make the materials public because of privacy concerns and because of orders issued by Darigan.

But yesterday, Healey said the attorney general wants to disclose as much evidence as he can, such as witness statements and sentencing information, including letters from victims of the fire and their families. The witness statements would not include such personal information as home addresses or Social Security numbers, Healey said.

Some photographs will be released, Healey said, but not those that are so grisly they would violate the dignity of victims. Photos of dead bodies will not be released, Healey said.

Given the sensitivity of some of these photographs and the disturbing and graphic nature of them, we wont be moving to release them, said Healey.

Healey said that Darigan had issued orders barring the release of investigation materials. If Darigan removes the orders, Healey said, Lynch would release as much information as he could under the state Access to Public Records law.

The fate of secret Station grand jury records and testimony is still to be decided in a separate legal case that is winding through the courts. For example, such documents as the testimony. The next step in that case is a Dec. 13 hearing before Presiding Justice Joseph Rodgers of Superior Court.

Under the grand jury seal are such statements as those of Dennis LaRocque, the West Warwick fire code inspector who said the building was safe.

The Feb. 20, 2003, fire at the Station nightclub in West Warwick was the worst disaster in the states history since the 1938 Hurricane.

smackay@projo.com / (401) 277-7321