Ex-band manager sentenced

The band's guitarist, Valley native Ty Longley, died in the fire.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A former rock-band manager whose pyrotechnics caused a nightclub fire that killed 100 people was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison -- well short of the maximum -- drawing sobs and groans from victims' relatives.
Some were so angered by the sentence given to Daniel Biechele -- who could have received 10 years -- that they stormed out of the courtroom. One man yelled "Typical [expletive] Rhode Island."
"What do you think of your son now?" Patricia Belanger shouted to Biechele's mother. Belanger, who lost her 30-year-old daughter, Dina Ann DeMaio, told reporters afterward: "Now it's her turn to suffer, just like we've been suffering because of her son."
Offered an apology
Before sentencing, Biechele gazed downward and choked back tears as he apologized for the Feb. 20, 2003, blaze at The Station nightclub in West Warwick.
"I don't know that I'll ever forgive myself for what happened that night, so I can't expect anyone else to," he said, his lip quivering. "I never wanted anyone to be hurt in any way. I never imagined that anyone ever would be."
Testimony from victims' relatives Monday and Tuesday left lawyers, court officials and at one point the defendant himself in tears. Some described a grief so powerful that they could not get out of bed in the morning, and said they looked forward to nothing except being reunited with their loved ones in death.
Superior Court Judge Francis Darigan Jr. gave Biechele, 29, less than half the sentence he could have received under a deal he struck with prosecutors in February, when he pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. Victims' families briefly thought Biechele was getting a 15-year sentence, but the judge suspended 11 years of that term.
"We've already suffered almost that long -- four years. We've already suffered that long," said Michelle Hoell, whose sister, Tammy Mattera-Housa, died in the fire.
Valley native
Brookfield High School graduate Ty Longley, 31, a guitarist with Great White, was killed in the fire. He had left home in 1991 to pursue his dream. He spent some time playing in a band in Boulder, Colo., but quit that job and moved to California, first linking up with Great White in 1999.
Pat Longley, Ty's father, said he blames city building inspectors more than Biechele or the club owners. He said the nightclub should not have been allowed to operate in the building.
In explaining his sentence, Judge Darigan told Biechele, "The greatest sentence that can be imposed upon you has been imposed upon you by yourself, that is having to live a life, an entire life, knowing that your actions were the proximate cause of the deaths of 100 people."
Biechele, the first person to be sentenced for the fire, was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs and transported to the state prison in Cranston to begin serving his sentence. The owners of the club are awaiting trial on manslaughter charges.
Biechele was the tour manager for the heavy metal band Great White when he lighted a pyrotechnics display that ignited highly flammable foam that lined the walls and ceiling of the nightclub. The foam was used as soundproofing and was placed there by the owners after neighbors complained about noise.
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