So, the Herald pronounced its outrage over the sentence for Daniel Biechele, the Great White manager who started the deadly fire: “5 DAYS IN JAIL FOR EACH LIFE”.
This is just an impossible situation. Biechele has been found guilty of doing something careless — but the fire was a worst-case scenario, a disaster utterly out of proportion with Biechele’s negligence. What if the foam weren’t flammable? What if the exits were open, as they should have been? How many deaths would have resulted? Any?
What if the penalty were 5 years for every life? Would that be enough to make up for the lives lost? Would it bring back the dead?
One can’t blame the victims for asking how this could be the result; the pain is such that they look to the legal system to set things right somehow. One victim’s sister said of the sentence, “Damn. Itâs like nothing.” That’s true.
But the sad truth is that there is nothing anyone can do to make it any better. No legal system, ever, could provide any real restoration to the victims and their families. Putting Biechele in prison for six more years, or fifty, wouldn’t help anyone.
Would presumably have encouraged other night-club owners to take greater care that their facilities are more safely designed — rules those people may be more likely to blow off now they know that the worst punishment is modest. Your comment suggests they should have let him walk completely because, after all, “there is nothing anyone can do to make it any better.” In fact, I think we can learn from past mistakes and make things better in the future. The dreadful Coconut Grove fire in Boston, for example, resulted in many aspects of modern fire codes — which, critically, include sanctions to made sure they are followed. No sanctions, no accountability, and no accountability, no improvements — and more tragedies. The Herald is right.
The Cocoanut Grove incident is a good example of how to learn from a tragedy. It’s worth noting that the article you linked to (and many others that I found) discussed the code changes that took place afterwards, but none actually said what the owner’s sentence was for manslaughter.
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You think nightclub owners will flaunt the law and be okay with 100 deaths because they’re only going to get 4 years? Seriously? (Just like all those drug kingpins who changed their ways to avoid the death penalty.) How about better enforcement of codes to begin with? How about actual sanctions, like revoking of liqour licenses or closing of clubs if they don’t meet the codes? We should hire more fire inspectors if they’re too shorthanded.
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Let’s try to prevent the next tragedy from happening, not wait until it does and then hang someone as retribution. There’s punishment and there’s vengeance. Charley’s got this one right.
Yes, no sentence can be enough to “make it any better” as you wrote.
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But does society waves it’s figurative arms in the air and say, “ya, you can have rock show in which fire works are ignited in a building filled with people and if something bad happens, you won’t be held responsible?”
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So the act of lighting fireworks in a crowded building had nothing to do with 100 people dying? It was the fact that the insulation was flammable and there was not proper exits from the building–thoses were the only factors that contributed to these deaths. The actual igniting of the fireworks had nothing to do with the fire?
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I’ll agree that imposing a “fair” penalty for this act is tough. Four years or 100 years or no prison at all is a tough decision to make. I think some prison time is warranted. To think that igniting fire works in a crowded building would not possibly cause harm is a reckless act, even if he had done it before (numerous times) and nothing happened. That’s like saying I’ve driven drunk before and nothings ever happened so, I should be able to drink and drive again and if I kill someone I shouldn’t be held criminally responsible because nothing you do to me (like jail) will bring that person back.
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To me it’s simple, if you lite fireworks in a building filled with people and then 100 people die, you should be held criminally responsible and the severity of the actions (100 dead people) warrant jail time.
I watched the sentencing hearing live. The judge gave a very good explanation of the law of homocide in Rhode Island, and the difference between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. The tour manager pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter. His crime was ignighting pyrotechnics without a permit (misdemeanor) leading to death (felony).
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The Judge noted that he had to consider two main factors: the harm caused (horrific) and the whether the defendant intended that any harm be caused (he did not). By law, the sentence had to take both factors into account. The Judge also noted that Biechele showed genuine remorse, which the law allows him to take into account. I think the Judge did a good job of answering a question that has no good answer.
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Biechele’s case has nothing to do with the cases of the nightclub owners, who are fighting the charges. My guess is that their sentences will be much longer.
EVERY public building in Massachusetts must use special foam in chairs and padding – in fact, it’s CALLED Boston Fire Code foam.
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It is VERY expensive.
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Churches, theatres, all KINDS of businesses – routinely flout this every day. Thye use cheaper foam, which spews forth toxic gas in a fire, and justify it to themselves by saying that the other stuff was overpriced.
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Fire inspectors are loathe to test for foam, because businesses don’t want to spend the money.