US families outraged at club fire sentencing

WARWICK, Rhode Island - Families of victims of a US nightclub fire that killed 100 people expressed outrage on Friday at a plea deal under which one one of the club's owners will serve four years in jail and the other serves no prison time.

"I stand here today as a broken man lost in a world without my precious son, Derek," a visibly distraught Robert Johnson told a packed courtroom in Rhode Island at the sentencing of the club's owners, brothers Michael and Jeffrey Derderian.

The Station Nightclub burned to the ground three years ago, killing 100 and injuring more than 200.

The February 20, 2003, fire was sparked by fireworks that accompanied a show by the rock band Great White. State prosecutors have said Michael Derderian gave the band's tour manager, Daniel Biechele, permission to light the pyrotechnics display.

Johnson, his voice cracking at times and his hands shaking, was one of 29 family members of the victims scheduled to give impact statements during the sentencing.

Michael Derderian, 45, and Jeffrey, 39, are each expected to plead no contest to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter later on Friday under a deal announced September 20.

Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Francis Darigan said he accepted the plea deal to spare families of those who died the ordeal of criminal trials.

Michael Derderian's trial was scheduled to begin on October 3. Jeffrey Derderian's trial was to follow. But the plea deal outraged many of the families, who told the court the sentences were far too lenient.

Michael Derderian will serve four years in prison with 11 years suspended, followed by three years probation. Jeffrey Derderian will serve a 10-year suspended sentence, with three years probation and 500 hours of community service. That means Jeffrey Derderian will spend no time in jail.

"I pray there is a heaven so when I die we can be together in a peaceful place where there isn't danger or corruption or negligence," said Claire Bruyere, whose daughter Bonnie Hamelin died in the fire.

Moments earlier, the judge had interrupted Bruyere when her comments became critical of the court.

Sarah Ballard, 22, sobbed while recounting the moment she learned her mother Sarah Telgarsky was killed in the fire.

"I couldn't handle that. I fell to the floor and couldn't breathe. It felt as if someone had knocked the wind right out of me," Ballard said.

"Just imagining the thought of my mother being so burned she could only be identified by her dental records kills me to this day," she said.

Her father, who spent eight months in the hospital recovering from burns he received in the fire, did not learn of his wife's death until awakening from an induced coma four months after the fire, Ballard said.

In February, band manager Biechele received a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Security was tight in the courthouse. Darigan said he regretted that the justice system could not assuage the pain and anger felt by the families of victims.

When the judge told the families, "I understand how you feel in this case," a chorus of voices watching the proceeding on a screen in an overflow room called out, "No, you don't."

- REUTERS