PROVIDENCE -- J. William W. Harsch, the Republican candidate for attorney general, yesterday said newly released e-mails between a prosecutor and defense lawyer bolster his argument that Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch was involved in the plea agreement that allowed one of The Station nightclub owners to avoid jail time.

Harsch said e-mails released Tuesday by defense lawyer Kathleen M. Hagerty "show that the attorney general was himself directly involved, or if you are going to believe that he was not involved then he totally lost control of his own office."

Harsch made those statements during a news conference in front of the attorney general's office at 150 S. Main St. He noted Lynch has a bronze plaque on the building containing a Spider-Man quote ("With great power comes great responsibility"), and suggested it should be replaced with a Sir Walter Scott quote: "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive."

On Sept. 29, Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. accepted no-contest pleas from the brothers who owned the West Warwick nightclub where 100 people died in a 2003 fire. Darigan sentenced Michael Derderian to four years in prison and Jeffrey Derderian to 500 hours of community service but no jail time.

Lynch, a Democrat seeking a second term, was quoted in Tuesday's Journal saying "we fought to the end" to secure a prison sentence for Jeffrey Derderian. In response, Hagerty released e-mails between herself and prosecutor William J. Ferland, saying the e-mails show that Lynch's "continued denial of responsibility or involvement by his office" of the less-than-jail sentence is "simply false and misleading the public."

Ferland said the e-mails don't prove anything more than that he was "contemplating" a less-than-jail term for Jeffrey Derderian because that was something Hagerty was proposing. He said he expressed a willingness to bring Hagerty's proposal to Lynch but "the attorney general was emphatic that he'd never agree to a disposition of less than jail."

In response to Harsch's news conference, Lynch campaign manager Andrea Iannazzi said, "That Bill Harsch is aligning himself with Kathy Hagerty really says it all. Any fair reading of the information that Ms. Hagerty has inappropriately released to the news media simply confirms what Attorney General Lynch has said all along: That Jeffrey Derderian should be serving jail time and that the attorney general's office objected to the very end of the case to any disposition that did not require Jeffrey Derderian to serve jail time."

When asked what part of the e-mails indicated Lynch was lying, Harsch quoted from an e-mail Hagerty sent to Ferland after the controversial plea deal had become public in September. "While I certainly regret that you had to be put square in the middle of this, you can thank Patrick Lynch and these absurd lies he is telling," Hagerty told Ferland. "At least I hope it is a lie when he attributes things to you that are untrue."

Also, Harsch cited an e-mail that Ferland sent Hagerty in August, before the plea agreement. "There is absolutely no way in the world we could get him three [years]," Ferland told Hagerty regarding Michael Derderian. "I have not thought about the length of a suspended [sentence] for Jeff."

Harsch said that indicates Lynch was involved in the negotiations, saying, "Where did Mr. Ferland get the idea that three years is unacceptable?"

While Lynch has said he wanted both Derderians to serve jail time, Harsch said that notion is not reflected in the e-mails. "Ms. Hagerty basically negotiated the attorney general's office out of its socks," Harsch said. "And then he turns around and says, No, that wasn't me.' "

After the news conference, The Journal asked Judge Darigan to tell the public how the plea deal came about, given that it's become a campaign issue and the subject of conflicting accounts. Courts spokesman Craig N. Berke relayed the request to the judge and responded by saying, "He does not want to get into a detailed discussion of the give-and-take of the plea agreement process. He feels the current discourse is damaging to the criminal justice system."

The Journal also asked Darigan to address critics who say he is not discussing the deal to protect Lynch, a fellow Democrat. Berke said Darigan found that question insulting and said, "In 23 years on the bench he's never done anything on a partisan basis." Also, Berke noted that Darigan had "excoriated the attorney general's office over the release of the plea agreement" before the court had made an announcement.