What do you think-Great White fire sentence
May 10, 2006 18:53:56 GMT -5
Post by NORTHCOAST on May 10, 2006 18:53:56 GMT -5
What do you think about the sentence handed down to the Great White band manager? I think the fire was so terribly horrifying. I remember seeing video of people all jammed at the door and struggling to get out but not being able to escape. That video haunted me. But I feel much sympathy for this band manager. He didn't knowingly hurt those people. I know many died or were injured, but I feel much compassion for this poor man and his family. What do you think?
Band manager gets 4 years in fatal club fire
Daniel Biechele pleaded guilty to role in 100 deaths in 2003 R.I. blaze
May 10, 2006
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A former rock-band manager whose pyrotechnics caused a nightclub fire that killed 100 people was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison.
Daniel Biechele, 29, could have gotten as much as 10 years behind bars under a deal he struck with prosecutors in February, when he pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. He also received an 11-year suspended sentence and three years of probation.
“The greatest sentence that can be imposed upon you has been imposed upon you by yourself,” Superior Court Judge Francis Darigan Jr. told Biechele, drawing sobs and groans from some of those in the courtroom.
The sentence came after two days of anguished testimony from the victims’ families, who told of college graduations they would never see, grandchildren they would never hold and grief so powerful that they could not get out of bed in the morning and looked forward to death to be reunited with their loved ones.
Sparks ignited foam in 2003 blaze
Biechele was the tour manager for heavy metal band Great White when on Feb. 20, 2003, he lit a pyrotechnics display that ignited highly flammable foam that lined the walls and ceiling of The Station nightclub in West Warwick. The foam was used as soundproofing and was placed there by the owners after neighbors complained about noise from the club.
Many of the 100 people who were killed that night either were quickly overcome by fumes emitted by the foam or became trapped in a crush at the front door.
More than 200 others were injured in the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, and the worst fire in state history.
Earlier Wednesday, Biechele’s attorney, Thomas Briody, argued that his client deserved mercy — in the form of community service, with no prison time — and feels immense sorrow for his role in the blaze.
“I ask you to consider this: Dan Biechele is the only man in this tragedy to stand up and say I did something wrong,” Briody said. “He’s the only man to say, ‘I apologize.”’
Band manager gets 4 years in fatal club fire
Daniel Biechele pleaded guilty to role in 100 deaths in 2003 R.I. blaze
May 10, 2006
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A former rock-band manager whose pyrotechnics caused a nightclub fire that killed 100 people was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison.
Daniel Biechele, 29, could have gotten as much as 10 years behind bars under a deal he struck with prosecutors in February, when he pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. He also received an 11-year suspended sentence and three years of probation.
“The greatest sentence that can be imposed upon you has been imposed upon you by yourself,” Superior Court Judge Francis Darigan Jr. told Biechele, drawing sobs and groans from some of those in the courtroom.
The sentence came after two days of anguished testimony from the victims’ families, who told of college graduations they would never see, grandchildren they would never hold and grief so powerful that they could not get out of bed in the morning and looked forward to death to be reunited with their loved ones.
Sparks ignited foam in 2003 blaze
Biechele was the tour manager for heavy metal band Great White when on Feb. 20, 2003, he lit a pyrotechnics display that ignited highly flammable foam that lined the walls and ceiling of The Station nightclub in West Warwick. The foam was used as soundproofing and was placed there by the owners after neighbors complained about noise from the club.
Many of the 100 people who were killed that night either were quickly overcome by fumes emitted by the foam or became trapped in a crush at the front door.
More than 200 others were injured in the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, and the worst fire in state history.
Earlier Wednesday, Biechele’s attorney, Thomas Briody, argued that his client deserved mercy — in the form of community service, with no prison time — and feels immense sorrow for his role in the blaze.
“I ask you to consider this: Dan Biechele is the only man in this tragedy to stand up and say I did something wrong,” Briody said. “He’s the only man to say, ‘I apologize.”’
