'We only seek justice'

AP photo / Barry Chin
Defense attorney Tom Briody, right, comforts Danield Biechele as he weeps after listening to the comments about fire victim Nicholas O'Neill.

Nicholas O’Neill, of Pawtucket, was the youngest victim of The Station fire at 18 years old.

He was a talented writer, a musician, a comedian and an actor, said his father Dave Kane.

And while he and his wife were devastated by their son’s death, they don’t fully blame Biechele.

“The chain of events that culminated Feb. 20, began months earlier, when the fire marshal,” Kane said before the judge cut him off, as he has consistently throughout the trial when family members stray from talking only about their loved ones.

“We don't seek revenge, your honor. We seek only justice,” Kane said, noting that justice may be an illusion in this case. “We know that our gentle loving son…would want us to accept Mr. Biechele's apology. That's the kind of boy we raised.”

Biechele broke down in tears while Kane was finishing his statement. He openly sobbed for a few moments, dabbing his eyes with his neck tie.

'He had the whole world in front of him'

Photographs and memories are all that Derek Johnson's family has left, his father, Robert Johnson Sr., says.

"My wife, all you’ve got to do is mention his name, Derek, and she’s done. Just a basket case," Johnson said.

Derek had so many friends and “did so much for so many people,” his father told the judge.

Derek was a wish-granter for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Orange County.

When the Internet security company he worked for in California brought Derek to Rhode Island to manage the site here, he brought some colleagues with him from California.

One of those friends, who grew up with Derek, couldn’t stay in Rhode Island after Derek died.

That friend now lives with Derek’s older brother in California.

“Derek was just everything,” his father said. “

When Derek’s father paused in his comments to cry, the judge told him he appreciated his coming forward to speak. The judge said he had read everything the family sent him, but when the father said he didn’t send anything to the court, he continued, “I beg the court’s indulgence here.”

Standing there at the podium, the father was shaking, crying and wiping his nose. Then he continued, saying he wanted to talk about how his son’s death had impacted him. He said he has no social life anymore.

“I used to go to a club, join in the laughter, beers and so forth,” he said. “Now, after this happened, I walk into a club … and you get this feeling that, you know, people go out to enjoy themselves, and you walk in and the atmosphere changes.”

Envious of the dying

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
Annmarie Swida, mother of nightclub fire victim Bridget Sanetti, reacts after reading her victim impact statement today.

Annmarie Swidwa was envious because her mother had cancer.

"I told her I was jealous she was going to die because she’d get to be with Bridget," Swidwa said. "My mom was 58, and she chose not to fight for her life because she didn’t want Bridget to be alone in heaven, so I lost my mother, too.”

Annmarie's daughter, Bridget Sanetti, died in The Station fire.

"People in Hurricane Katrina. They lost their homes. Big deal. They lost their jobs. Big deal. They didn’t lose everything," she said.

'Cheated out of her childhood'

Matthew Darby's daughter wonders who will walk her down the aisle now that her father is gone, Darby's wife, Melinda said in court today.

“Who will do it?” the girl asks. “I’m not getting married if my father cannot be there,” Melinda Darby said.

“My daughter has been cheated out of her childhood. My daughter has paid the consequences,” she said.

Melinda was 8 months pregnant with their second daughter when her husband died in the fire.

“What I saw that night looking for my husband was unbearable – the only way to describe it – war zone,” she said.

She was diagnosed with melanoma the day after her husband’s funeral.

She said her children have had to watch me work 70 hours a week because they have no insurance.

'He was going to achieve'

John Hoban calls his son Andrew "a racehorse" in the game of life.

Andrew Hoban, 22, of North Kingstown, "always, always exceeded our expectations," he said.

He graduated from URI in 2002 with a degree in political science.

"We knew he was going to achieve," his father said.

"Andrew was the best son that any man could ask for."

'They took my best friend'

Claire Bruyere lost her best friend in The Station fire: her daughter.

“They took my best friend, my reason for life," she said.

Bonnie Lynn Hamelin, 27, was from Warwick.

'We cannot take the place'
Posted 2:55

Benjamin Suffoletto's sister Diana has big shoes to try and fill.

She lost her brother and sister-in-law, Linda Suffoletto, in the fire.

Their son, Diana's nephew, misses having wrestling matches with his father. He misses talks, trips, spending time with his mother and father, Diana said.

"We cannot take the place of his mother and father," she said.

The judge explains the rules

PROVIDENCE -- The judge overseeing the sentencing hearing in The Station nightclub fire case took time this morning to address concerns by family members about strict rules placed on those delivering statements on how the disaster has affected their lives.

Some family members yesterday said they wanted more time to talk at the sentencing hearing for Daniel Biechele, whose pyrotechnics display started the 2003 fire. The rules limit the statements to five minutes.

Others said they were upset that only one person could testify for each victim killed.

And several people were cut off by Superior Court Judge Francis Darigan when they spoke about what kind of sentence they wanted, or when they spoke about Biechele personally. That isn't allowed.

Darigan today said he understood the concerns, but said the rules are state law. He said he would have liked to allow everyone a chance to speak, but there aren't enough resources or time to allow that.

-- The Associated Press

Making statements on their behalf
Updated 12:29 p.m.

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
Prosecutor Christopher Bush, right, looks at the victim statement for Eric J. Hyer, before reading it this morning as the sentencing hearing continues for Daniel Biechele, in The Station fire nightclub case. Almost 20 such statements were being read this morning before the session broke at about 11:45 a.m. The hearing will reconvene this afternoon, with relatives of victims speaking for themselves.

'Have you ever had to tell your daughters?'Posted 11:57 a.m.

Melvin Gerfin's death has left his wife feeling helpless.

"My daughters were 11 and 12 when their daddy was taken from their lives," she wrote. "Have you ever had to tell your daughters their father was missing and presumed dead?"

Their father, of Groton, Conn., was 46.

His daughters have many questions their mother doesn’t know how to answer: "Did daddy suffer? Do you think he was scared? Was he thinking about us? Do you think God was by his side?"

"I feel so helpless, I can’t fix this problem for my girls," she wrote.

'We died inside'

Derek Gray's family suffered for four days waiting to learn if he had died.

When they got the news, "It was the day we died inside," Derek's mother wrote.

Derek, 22, was from Dracut, Mass. His daughter was born after he died.

He will never enjoy bedtime stories, birthdays, his mother wrote.

"We have lost the ability to enjoy anything."

'A lifelong feeling of loss'

Tracey Romanoff's mother says her daughter's death "will never be erased from my mind."

"It is a lifelong feeling of loss," she wrote.

Tracey, 32, was from Coventry and the mother of two.

"My family no longer has the opportunity to have family gatherings," her mother wrote. "Our grandchildren...now have to grow up without their mother and stepfather."

An angel

"The world lost an angel," when Kelly Viera died, her father wrote.

Kelly Viera, 40, was from West Warwick.

Mourning two deaths

Thomas Barnett's father suffered a stroke and died a week after his son's funeral.

Like the rest of the family, Barnett's father "adored him."

Barnett's mother, now 78, was left to mourn two losses.

She wrote that the whole family adored Thomas, who was 38 and from West Greenwich.

"And he had a profound love for all of us."

Thinking about suicide
Alfred Crisostomi's mother, Nancy, cannot even drive by the place where her son died.

"He was not only my heart and soul, but my best friend," she said of her 38-year-old son, who had lived in Providence.

Since his death, she has often considered taking her own life.

'There is not a day I don’t shed tears for him'

Eric J. Hyer's mother still keeps his ashes on her nightstand

“There is not a day I don’t shed tears for him," she said in a letter read this morning.

Hyer, 32, was from Scituate.

Karla Bagtaz's stepmother decided it would be too difficult to attend the sentencing hearing, but she wants Karla's memory honored, according to Randall White, an assistant attorney general.

Karla's father also recently died, according to White.

Karla was 41, of Randolph, Mass.

No way to explain
Words leave the parents of Dennis Smith, 36, of Pawtucket, unable to explain the impact of their son's death.

“You have to go through something like this to know what it’s like," they said in a letter read by Christopher R. Bush, a special assistant attorney general.

'I only have that gold band'

Robert Daniel Young's wedding band was used to help identify his remains.

"Now I only have that gold band, that helped bring my husband home, for me to hold on to," his wife, Jennifer, said in a letter read this morning.

She stood crying behind prosecutor Randall White as he read the letter.

Her husband was 29, from Taunton, Mass.

"You’d like to think you’ll know the last time you’ll see a person," she said in the letter.

"You don’t realize how important those things are. 'The last words, the last moments, the last time you will hear him say I love you.' "

'There is nothing anyone can give me'

James Gooden's wife sat in the courtroom as Randall White read a letter she wrote while sitting in the cemetery.

“I wonder what justice is,” she wrote. “I wonder if any punishment can fit the crime”

"To know the person I loved most in the world crawled on the ground gasping for air, not being able to breathe, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. There is nothing anyone can give me to take that image out of my head."

"He will never grow old with me," she wrote of her husband, who was 37 when he died.

"We will never understand this or accept it."

"We will try not to become bitter."

He 'never lived to see his daughter'

Christopher Prouty, 24, of Pawtucket never lived to see his daughter.

After he died in the fire, his parents learned that his girlfriend was pregnant.

"My son never lived to see his daughter," Prouty's father said in a letter written by William J. Ferland, an assistant atttorney general.

Spasms, tremors, severe depression

Shawn Sweet's father has suffered from muscle spasms, tremors and severe depression since his son died. His doctors feel most of his problems are connected to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from the death, prosecutor William J. Ferland said,recounting a conversation with the victim's father.

Sweet, 28, of Pembroke, Mass., used to contribute income of the family. His mother has since had to start a part-time job out of fear of losing their home.

Sweet's father wants other people, in addition to Biechele to be held responsible.

"He feels the defendant has done something stupid," Ferland said speaking for Sweet's father. "He would like to see the defendant get the full 10 years."

'It’s lonely, empty'

Judy O'Brien also suffers from constant pain since the death of her son Robert L. Reisner III.
Judy was working on a legal degree when her son died. "Rob used to love to help with my assignments," she said in a letter read by Christopher R. Bush, a special assistant attorney general.

She was going to graduate in May 2003, but couldn't finish.

"It’s lonely, empty, and not happy anymore without my son," she said. "The pain is endless."

Robert was 29, of Coventry.

Posted: 10:16 a.m.
Just six months in Rhode Island

Scott Griffith, a "California boy," came to Rhode Island from the West Coast just six months before he died in a fire at The Station nightclub.

"When he moved to Rhode Island, we would not have thought that his first trip back to California would be in a casket," his brother David Griffith wrote in a letter read by Randall White, an assistant attorney general.

Griffith, 37, struggled with a drug addiction, but entered rehab, cleaned up his life and accepted Jesus as his savior, according to his brother.

Finding Jesus "dramatically changed his life," his brother wrote.

We....pray justice will be done

The family of Kevin P. Anderson showed some sympathy for defendant Daniel M. Biechele in a letter addressed to Judge Francis Darigan.

Christopher R. Bush, a special assistant attorney general, read the letter in court.

"We know that Mr. Biechele did not intentionally set out to destroy many lives that night," reads the letter. "But we hope and pray that justice will be done."

Anderson was just 37 and left behind a loving family, his family wrote.

Biechele sentencing hearing to resume
Posted: 9:57 a.m.
Victim impact statements are scheduled to resume this morning in Superior Court for the sentencing hearing of Daniel M. Biechele, the band manager who set off the fireworks that sparked the fire at The Station nightclub.

Assistant Attorneys General plan to read statements on behalf of about 18 victims this morning.

Biechele, who pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter in February, faces up to 10 years in prison when Judge Francis Darigan sentences him tomorrow.

-- With reports from projo.com staff writers Kate Bramson and Steve Peoples, compiled by projo.com news producer Jack Perry