GREAT WHITE: Portraits Emerge Of Lives Lost In Second Day Of Nightclub Hearing

The Associated Press has issued the following report:

Robert Reisner, the school bus driver who lived with his mother and was known as "Mr. Rob" to the students on his route, went to the concert.

So did Scott Griffith, a California-born man and self-taught musician who headed out with a group of office buddies after closing a deal at work.

Robert Young, who had only recently celebrated his one-year wedding anniversary, hoped to enjoy a night of heavy metal music headlined by a once-popular rock group.

All three men were among the 100 people killed by a raging fire that broke out inside a crowded West Warwick nightclub on Feb. 20, 2003.

The fire was sparked after the band's tour manager set off pyrotechnics as GREAT WHITE began their first song — setting the highly flammable foam surrounding the stage into a giant ball of fire that spewed out toxic fumes.

Brief snapshots of their lives were presented in court Tuesday as prosecutors read statements written by their relatives at a sentencing hearing Daniel Biechele, 29, the band's tour manager who pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Eight of those who died lived or worked in Connecticut.

The hearing began on Monday with personal testimonials from relatives of those who perished, and continued into Tuesday with prosecutors reading statements from those relatives who were either unable to attend - or couldn't bear the thought of speaking publicly about the pain of their loss.

Biechele is set to find out his sentence on Wednesday. He faces up to 10 years in prison; his lawyers have asked Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. to sentence him to community service.

Deb Gerfin, whose husband Melvin was killed, said in a statement that she was haunted by nightmares of her husband's final moments and often thinks about how he'll never see his two daughters go to homecoming or get married.

"Have you ever had to tell your children that their daddy is missing and presumed dead, and hear them wail and grieve?" Gerfin said in a statement read by a prosecutor.

"How do you convince them everything will be all right when it never will again? I have to be strong for them even when my heart is breaking," she wrote.

Another victim's wife stood and wept as prosecutor Randall White read her statement, which described a happy marriage and plans for a family, then dashed hopes for a long life together.

"I'm left with a lonely, empty house with nothing left but my sadness," wrote Jennifer Young, widow of 29-year-old Robert Young.

"Since my son's death, I have become confused and very depressed," wrote Nancy Crisostomi, mother of 38-year-old fire victim Alfred Crisostomi. "Many times I have considered taking my own life, but my faith prevents it."

Read the rest of the article at this location.