The following report is courtesy of Tracy Breton from Projo.com:

A lawyer representing Daniel M. Biechele, the former rock band tour manager who lit pyrotechnics inside The Station nightclub and caused 100 deaths, said yesterday that he fears his client could be prosecuted for other crimes beyond what he is currently imprisoned for.

Lawyer Thomas Briody told U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Martin that Biechele could face federal prosecution or be charged in other states in connection with his former job with the band GREAT WHITE. He said his client has great sympathy for the victims but that he has advised Biechele that it would not be in his best interest to respond to questions posed by the victims’ lawyers for the lawsuits they have brought for money damages.

Lawyers for those who died and were injured in the fire on Feb. 20, 2003, say that the prospect of further prosecution of Biechele is “remote.” They termed Briody’s arguments both vague and speculative. They say that now that Biechele is serving a prison sentence in Rhode Island, he should not be allowed to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege to block them from questioning him about events leading up to the fire.

Martin did not issue an immediate decision on the victims’ lawyers request that they now be allowed to question Biechele. He said he would do so later in writing. Currently, there is an order in place — issued in 2005 when Biechele was still facing state manslaughter charges — that blocks the lawyers from trying to question him.

During yesterday’s hourlong hearing, Martin pressed Briody to recite what crimes he feared Biechele could still face and why he believes prosecutors in various venues are still targeting Biechele. He said he might order Briody to provide a list of potential crimes in a private memo that he would review before deciding the issue.

Biechele is serving a four-year sentence at the Adult Correctional Institutions, in a work-release program, as a result of his Feb. 7, 2006, guilty plea to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. He admitted unintentionally causing the deaths of 100 nightclub patrons by setting off pyrotechnics without a permit inside the West Warwick club. The fire began when sparks from the pyrotechnics ignited highly flammable polyurethane foam that had been installed as soundproofing by the club’s owners. In addition to the 100 killed in the fire, more than 200 people were injured.

In court yesterday, lawyers for the victims told Martin that there was no evidence that any prosecutors — state or federal — were currently trying to build another case against Biechele. They said that now that the manslaughter case against him is over, they should be allowed to elicit information from him that will give a clearer picture of events leading up to the fire. They assert that his testimony is important to their cases.

In a brief filed with Martin, lawyers representing some of the victims lay out why Biechele’s testimony is important to them: “The products involved, the planning and operation of the concert and ignition of the gerbs, the identities of other participants and/or public officials, and the owners’ knowledge of these activities whether at The Station or at other venues — to name just a few topics — are important to a complete understanding of what occurred and a related evaluation of the legal claims pending against several defendants.

Biechele,” they say, “should not be permitted to raise a trifling or imaginary Fifth Amendment claim at this stage to foreclose this discovery.”

Read more here.

(Photo: Daniel M. Biechele, Great White’s tour manager, at his sentencing last year)