Former GREAT WHITE Tour Manager Expected To Enter Plea Today: Video Available

February 7, 2006

Providence's WPRI Eyewitness News has issued the following report:

In a matter of hours, the former manager of the band GREAT WHITE is expected to plead guilty to one hundred counts of involuntary manslaughter for his part in the deadly Station Fire. Former GREAT WHITE tour manager Daniel Biechele is accused of setting off the pyrotechnics display which sparked the station night club fire on February 20, 2003. It killed one hundred people. He'll plea guilty to one hundred counts of involuntary manslaughter.

The hearing could be as short as five minutes or can be longer than an hour, says Eyewitness News Legal Analyst Lou Pulner.

"The question is, how detailed they're going to be when he has to enter his plea," he said. "Will he be able to enter to all one hundred counts in one swift motion or is he going to have to sit there and announce his plea to each and every count of the indictment."
Biechele's hearing will be held in a courtroom which seats up to one hundred people. Priority will be given to victim's families. Three other courtrooms will be set aside for extra capacity. When Biechele enters his plea, Judge Francis Darrigan will let Biechele know that by doing this, he's waiving his right to a trial. The judge will then determine whether Biechele is making his pleas on his own free will.

We're told Daniel Biechele probably won't say much in the courtroom beyond "yes" and "no." Victim impact statements won't be heard until his sentencing. But the process for collecting them begins today. Up to fourteen probation officers, will be on hand ready to take those statements, says Shelly Cortese, of the R.I. Dept. of Corrections. They could number in the hundreds.

Under the plea deal, Biechele will serve no more than ten years in prison. Biechele is accused of setting off the pyrotechnics display that ignited flammable soundproofing foam inside the station nightclub in 2003.

Watch the WPRI Eyewitness News video report at this location (disable pop-up blocker).

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