In May, Biechele was sentenced to serve four years at the Adult Correctional Institutions. He had earlier pleaded guilty to 100 counts of misdemeanor manslaughter, a charge imposed when a petty crime results in someone's death.

In a March 2003 interview, prosecutor William Ferland asked Biechele if he'd ever received training in using pyrotechnics.

"Not formally, no," Biechele answered.

Biechele went on to say that he did receive instructions from "a guy by the name of Hutch."

Ferland said, "And you, you don't know his real name, I take it?

"Not offhand, no," Biechele said.

Biechele was working for another band, Wasp, at the time. He said the instruction was at a Los Angeles rehearsal studio called Bill's Place.

Another prosecutor, Gerald Coyne, later pressed Biechele for details on Hutch and his training.

Biechele said, "Hutch basically showed me how to use it and what uh -- how it worked. Just -- you put the match in like such."

Coyne asked, "Did he discuss the safety aspects of using these devices?"

"To an extent, but we didn't go into any formal detail of it," Biechele replied.

Coyne asked, "What exactly did he say?"

"I don't recall," Biechele said.

Coyne asked Biechele how long the training session lasted.

"He was probably there for an hour, demoing various different pyrotechnic materials for the band," Biechele said.

Biechele said he didn't receive any other training with respect to safety of devices, aside from operating instructions on them.

Biechele said Michael Derderian had given him permission to use the pyrotechnics in a telephone conversation about a week before Great White's concert. He figured that meant the building was safe. He also said he relied on the venues to get any necessary permits when he set off pyrotechnics.

Under Ferland's questioning, Biechele acknowledged that he didn't formulate a written plan on how the pyrotechnics would be used or safety precautions. Biechele also acknowledged he didn't check to see whether the material surrounding the stage was fire or flame retardant.

"That's not something that I'm qualified to judge," Biechele said.

Ferland said, "You could've maybe lit a match and seen if it went up, right? Just for basic practical -- "

"I could've, but that wasn't something that - honestly, I think if somebody had lit a match and stuck it to that wall, the whole building would have gone up, as it did, at -- uh from what I saw at the fire," Biechele said.