Owners to plead no contest in club fire deaths (RI - 100 Died in Fire)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/09/20/nightclub.deaths.ap/index.html

The owners of a nightclub where a 2003 fire killed 100 people will plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges, and only one will have to serve prison time, their lawyer said Wednesday. Victims' relatives were outraged.

Kathleen Hagerty said brothers Jeffrey and Michael Derderian will enter the pleas more than 3-1/2 years after pyrotechnics ignited foam soundproofing as a band started playing at The Station nightclub.

She confirmed that Michael Derderian will serve 4 years in a minimum security prison, with eligibility for a work release program, and that Jeffrey Derderian will receive a suspended 10-year sentence.

Some relatives of those killed were furious to hear about the punishments, which they considered light.

"I can't believe the attorney general is just going to stand by and say OK to this," said Diane Mattera, whose 29-year-old daughter, Tammy Mattera-Housa, died in the fire.

[Maat]

1. No one will believe this story.

My sister was in a beauty shop one day many years ago when Great White was starting out. The lead singer's mother was there. She talked about how she was concerned that something very bad would happen. At the time, my sister told me she was speaking like she had a premonition.


I thought of that story when the accident happened.

It's so sad how things turned out.