(Reuters) (12/10/03)

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

Edited By Michael Bennett

WEST WARWICK, RI - Three people were charged with involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday in the first criminal counts over a Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people and injured some 200 in February.

Capping a nine-month investigation into the blaze at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a grand jury returned felony indictments against two of the club's owners and a tour manager for the rock band GREAT WHITE.

In what became the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, The Station went up in flames on February 20th, when sparks from a pyrotechnic display at the start of a GREAT WHITE concert spread to flammable foam on the club's walls.

During separate arraignments in front of Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Netti Vogel, club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, and the band's tour manager, Dan Biechele, were each charged with 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter with criminal negligence, and 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter in violation of a misdemeanor.

All three pleaded not guilty.

Each count carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Vogel set bail at $10,000 cash for Biechele, and at $5,000 cash for each of the Derderian brothers.

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch noted that the indictments do not allege -- and the crime of involuntary manslaughter does not require -- proof that the defendants intended to cause the deaths of 100 people.

Accordingly, he accused the Derderians of failing to properly maintain the nightclub by keeping the foam on the walls.

He accused Biechele of lighting the pyrotechnics that started the fire.

Jeffrey Pine, a lawyer for Jeffrey Derderian, said the brothers sent their condolences and prayers to families of the victims but protested their innocence.

"They are not criminals, they did not commit a criminal act and should not be facing criminal charges," Pine told reporters after the Derderians posted bail.

Earlier, Lynch discussed the charges during what was described as an emotional and tumultuous meeting behind closed doors with victims and relatives of those who perished in the inferno.

Survivors -- some bearing scars of burns suffered in the blaze -- exchanged tearful hugs as they filed into a banquet hall in West Warwick to hear from the state's top prosecutor.

But witnesses said tears gave way to anger during the meeting as many relatives demanded why others -- including the entire band and city officials -- had not been indicted.

"It was a disappointing first step," Michelle Hoell, who lost her sister in the fire, said of the charges unveiled against the three men.

In addition to the criminal charges against the Derderians and Biechele, a raft of civil lawsuits has been filed against a wider group of defendants in connection with the blaze.

Lynch said he expects it will be at least a year and a half before the criminal cases go to trial.

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