PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Lawyers representing the families of the 100 people killed by a 2003 nightclub fire may question the man whose pyrotechnics display ignited the blaze, a federal magistrate ruled Friday.
The ruling notes, however, that Daniel Biechele, the former tour manager for the rock band Great White, can invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination in an attempt to avoid answering questions that he believes might subject him to additional prosecution.
Biechele pleaded guilty last year to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter and is serving a four-year prison sentence for the Feb. 20, 2003 fire, which began when his pyrotechnics set fire to highly flammable foam lining the walls of The Station nightclub in West Warwick.
Lawyers representing a few hundred survivors and victims’ families have sued dozens of defendants, including foam manufacturers and members of the band, and say they want to question Biechele to obtain more information about the events leading up to the fire.
They also believe Biechele, who is among those sued, could provide testimony that helps their cases against other defendants.
Biechele had resisted efforts to question him, with his defense lawyer arguing that he could still face prosecution in federal court or even in other states where the band had transported and used the pyrotechnics.
U.S. Magistrate Judge David Martin rejected that argument Friday, saying Biechele had already resolved all criminal charges against him and that an earlier court order that protected him from having to cooperate with the plaintiffs’ attorneys no longer made sense.
Martin lifted that order, entered in March 2005, saying the “legal landscape has changed considerably” since then.
“I think the judge gave us all we could ask for at this procedural juncture, and we’re very pleased with it,” said John Barylick, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.
Biechele’s attorney, Thomas Briody, declined to comment, except to say that the ruling spoke for itself.
In his seven-page decision, Martin said the plaintiffs’ lawyers should specify the topics they intend to cover before taking pretrial testimony, or depositions, of Biechele.
Biechele would then be free to seek a protective order to get out of answering questions that he believe violate his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
While Biechele will be free to assert that privilege, the plaintiffs may also demand that he answer their questions, Martin said.
The judge added that he would weigh Biechele’s constitutional right against self-incrimination in the context of the specific information the plaintiffs are seeking.
Nightclub owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian were the only other men criminally charged after the fire. They pleaded no contest last year to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter; Michael Derderian received a four-year prison sentence while Jeff Derderian got probation and community service.
The brothers have said they would be willing to speak with the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
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