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August 1, 2006

Derderian seeks to ban testimony on club capacity

PROVIDENCE -- Lawyers for one of the owners of The Station nightclub are trying to keep witnesses from testifying about the number of people who were in the building on the night a fire killed 100 people there, according to motions released by the court this morning.

Prosecutors say they plan to prove that 458 people were at the West Warwick club on Feb. 20, 2003, and that the West Warwick building was packed beyond capacity.

But defense lawyers say they're willing to stipulate to the number of people in the club. They say it'd be a waste of time for prosecutors to prove that 458 people were present.

The defense also wants to prevent witnesses from estimating the crowd size at earlier concerts at the club, where the fire was ignited by pyrotechnics set off by the band Great White.

A hearing on the requests is scheduled for tomorrow. Derderian's trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 5.

For more background, read the story in today's Journal.

-- Staff and wire reports

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 12:36 PM | Permalink

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