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November 29, 2006

Breaking news: AG releases thousands of pages Station fire evidence

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch today began making public thousands of pages of evidence collected as part of the Station nightclub fire investigation.

Today’s release of documents comes in response to a Providence Journal public records request for the material. It also is part of a pledge Lynch made to relatives of the 100 people who died in the 2003 fire that he would let the public see the evidence. Lynch told the relatives he hoped the evidence would help answer lingering questions about the West Warwick nightclub and the fire that destroyed it.

Michael Healey, a spokesman for Lynch, said today that the attorney general regrets not being able to give victims' families advance notice of the release, but that his office was obligated to respond to the media's public records' request.

Healey said the material released today includes more than 3,000 pages of documents from the town of West Warwick and from the home office of Station co-owner Michael A. Derderian. Journal reporters are beginning to review the documents this afternoon.

Three people were charged with involuntary manslaughter for the fire: Derderian, 45, and his brother, Jeffrey A. Derderian, 40, the other owner of the nightclub, and Daniel M. Biechele, 30, the rock band tour manager who triggered fireworks that started the blaze. All three entered pleas to the charges. Biechele and Michael Derderian were sentenced to serve four years in prison. Jeffrey Derderian was ordered to perform 500 hours of community service.

Lynch has said he would release more evidence in the coming weeks, as soon as staff lawyers review it to determine that making it public would not violate the law. He also has petitioned the Superior Court for permission to give out transcripts of secret grand jury testimony that resulted in the charges against Biechele and the Derderians.

Today's release is a small fraction of what will ultimately be released, Healey said.

-- Journal staff writer Paul Edward Parker

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 12:32 PM | Permalink

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