A former rock-band manager whose pyrotechnics caused a nightclub fire that killed 100 people was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison, drawing sobs and groans from victims' relatives who hoped to see the man serve more time behind bars.

Some were so angered by the sentence given to Daniel Biechele — who could have received 10 years — that they stormed out of the courtroom. One man yelled "Typical (expletive) Rhode Island."

"What do you think of your son now?" Patricia Belanger shouted to Biechele's mother. Belanger, who lost her 30-year-old daughter, Dina Ann DeMaio, told reporters afterward: "Now it's her turn to suffer, just like we've been suffering because of her son."

Before sentencing, Biechele gazed downward and choked back tears as he apologized for the Feb. 20, 2003, blaze at The Station nightclub in West Warwick. "I don't know that I'll ever forgive myself for what happened that night, so I can't expect anyone else to," he said, his lip quivering. "I never wanted anyone to be hurt in any way. I never imagined that anyone ever would be."

He was the tour manager for the heavy metal band Great White when he lit a pyrotechnics display that ignited highly flammable foam that lined the walls and ceiling of the nightclub. The foam was used as soundproofing and was placed there by the owners after neighbors complained about noise.

Source: Foxnews

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