GREAT WHITE Fire Tragedy

Update: Parent Of Son Who Died In GREAT WHITE Fire Tragedy - Former Manager Daniel M. Biechele "Is The Only One That I Feel Demonstrated Any Remorse Whatsoever For What Happened"

The following report is courtesy of www.Boston.com:

The band manager whose pyrotechnic display ignited one of the deadliest nightclub fires in US history will be released from a Rhode Island state prison in March after serving less than half his four-year term, the state's Parole Board announced yesterday.

The board cited letters of support for the parole of Daniel M. Biechele, 30, from relatives of some of the 100 people who died in the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at the Station nightclub in West Warwick.

"The Board carefully considered the institutional and public input of the victims, both opposed and in favor of his release - the numerous support letters, his progress in the correctional system, his proposed release plan and his low score on our Parole Release Risk Instrument," the board's statement read.

Biechele, who has been working as a bookkeeper for a Rhode Island nonprofit while in jail, pleaded guilty in February 2006 to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. He has served about 16 months of the sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. He acknowledged that he lit the pyrotechnic display without a permit just before the '80s rock band GREAT WHITE began its first song.

Chris Fontaine's son, Mark A. Fontaine, 22, died in the fire. Fontaine's daughter Melanie Fontaine, 29, was burned but survived, and her daughter's fiancé, John Longiaru, was killed. Despite Biechele's admitted role in her family's pain, Chris Fontaine said the parole decision was appropriate.
"Do I hold him partly responsible for what happened to my son? Yes, I do," Fontaine said in a telephone interview. "I think it was a bad judgment call, but I don't think, if we're going to place blame, that it's with him that the bulk of it lies." Fontaine said, "He is the only one that I feel demonstrated any remorse whatsoever for what happened, and I didn't feel it was put on. It felt genuine."

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