GREAT WHITE: Nightclub Owners To Plead No Contest In Deadly Fire

September 20, 2006

The Associated Press reports:

The owners of a nightclub where a 2003 fire killed 100 people [during a GREAT WHITE concert] will plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges, and only one will have to serve prison time, their lawyer said Wednesday. Victims' relatives were outraged.

Kathleen Hagerty said brothers Jeffrey and Michael Derderian will enter the pleas more than 3 1/2 years after pyrotechnics ignited foam soundproofing as GREAT WHITE started playing at The Station nightclub. She confirmed that Michael Derderian will serve 4 years in a minimum security prison, with eligibility for a work release program, and that Jeffrey Derderian will receive a suspended 10-year sentence.

Some relatives of those killed were furious to hear about the punishments, which they considered light.

"I can't believe the attorney general is just going to stand by and say OK to this," said Diane Mattera, whose 29-year-old daughter, Tammy Mattera-Housa, died in the fire.

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