GREAT WHITE - Co-Owner Of Station Nightclub Nearly Complete Community Service Sentence
September 4, 2007, 17 years ago
The following report is courtesy of The Associated Press:
The co-owner of a nightclub where 100 people were killed in a 2003 fire has nearly completed his community service sentence.
Jeffrey Derderian pleaded no contest last fall to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the fire, which occurred when pyrotechnics for the rock band GREAT WHITE set fire to flammable foam on the club's walls.
Eight of the victims lived or worked in Connecticut.
He escaped jail time, but was sentenced to 500 hours of community service.
Documents filed with the Superior Court show Derderian has worked 446 hours at a national burn survivors' group and at a fire and rescue company in West Greenwich.
Derderian's brother and club co-owner, Michael, is serving a four-year prison sentence, as is former Great White tour manager Daniel Biechele, who pleaded guilty last year to lighting the pyrotechnics without the required permit.
Biechele will be eligible for parole later this month after having served 16 months of his prison term. Victims' families have an opportunity Wednesday night to address the parole board ahead of the September 19 parole hearing.
