Band's manager gets 4 years for club fire that killed 100

A former tour manager for the heavy-metal band Great White has been sentenced to four years behind bars over a fire that killed 100 Rhode Island nightclub patrons in 2003.

A judge in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday announced the punishment for Daniel Biechele, 29, who had pleaded guilty in February to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

The sentence was actually 15 years, but Judge Francis Darigan Jr. suspended 11 of those years, taking into account Biechele's remorse and the letters of apology he wrote to the families of the victims.

Prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence, while the defence team argued for no time in jail.

Biechele planned and set off the pyrotechnics display that went horribly wrong during a Great White show in West Warwick on Feb. 20, 2003.

Fans initially cheeredflames

Flames began to appear as the band played its first song, as sparks from special-effects equipment ignited flammable soundproofing foam near the stage of the 60-year-old nightclub The Station.

Fans at first cheered the sight of the flames, believing they were part of the special effects. Then they panicked and tried to stampede out of the club.

The building did not have a sprinkler system, and a total of 100 people, out of the 300 in attendance,ended up dead.

A television cameraman who had been filming the appearance captured much of the chaos, as flames engulfed the mostly young crowd and toxic fumes from the soundproofing foam spread throughout the club.

Relatives of the victims gave emotional testimony about how the fire had affected their lives in the two days before Biechele's sentencing.

The nightclub's ownershave not yet gone to trial on manslaughter charges.