The Providence Journal (www.projo.com) has issued the following report from Tracy Breton:

PROVIDENCE -- State prosecutors have turned over to defense lawyers more than 850 autopsy photographs of victims of the Station nightclub fire, as part of the pretrial discovery process in the manslaughter case.

In recent days, DVDs containing the photographs were given to lawyers representing Michael A. and Jeffrey A. Derderian, who owned the West Warwick nightclub, and Daniel Biechele, the former tour manager for the rock band GREAT WHITE who set off pyrotechnics inside the club the night of the deadly fire.

Each of the three men is charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deaths of 100 people as a result of the Feb. 20, 2003, nightclub fire. They have pleaded not guilty.

No trial date has been set in the criminal case. Franics J. Darigan Jr., the Superior Court judge presiding over the case, has said it won't be held until next year.

The autopsy photos turned over to the defendants are of the 96 victims who died at the scene. Four other victims died in Massachusetts hospitals in the days and months after the blaze.

According to court papers, prosecutors have also given the defense lawyers 39 photos taken by the police at Michael Derderian's yellow, raised ranch house on Tern Road, off Point Judith Road in Narragansett. It is unclear from the court papers what the photos depict.

Prosecutors have also given the defense 104 photos of evidence from the fire scene, collected by experts hired by lawyers representing the fire victims in civil suits in U.S. District Court. That evidence has been stored in a warehouse in Cranston, rented by the victims' lawyers.