PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The owners of a nightclub where a fire sparked by a rock band’s pyrotechnics killed 100 people in 2003 will plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges, their lawyer said Wednesday.

Kathleen Hagerty, a lawyer for Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, said the brothers will plead no contest to 100 counts for hanging flammable foam that violated the fire code.

Michael Derderian will be sentenced to serve four years in a minimum security prison, followed by 11 years suspended and three years probation, she said. Jeffrey Derderian will receive a suspended 10-year sentence, with three years probation, along with 500 hours of community service.

The fire on Feb. 20, 2003, at The Station nightclub in West Warwick began when pyrotechnics used by the heavy metal band Great White ignited foam placed as soundproofing around the stage. The flames quickly spread to foam that lined the walls and ceiling, enveloping the one-story wooden building in moments and trapping concertgoers.

It was the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history.

The plea comes as jury selection was under way for Michael Derderian’s criminal trial.

A spokesman for Attorney General Patrick Lynch did not immediately return several phone messages seeking comment. But WJAR-TV reported that Lynch wrote a letter dated Wednesday to families of those killed to inform them of the deal. The station reported that Lynch was calling family members Wednesday to speak with them.

“Despite months of denials of responsibility on behalf of those who owned the club and of the band’s tour manager, each has now admitted that they are, in fact, criminally responsible for the deaths of one hundred persons,” says the letter, which is signed by Lynch.

The Derderians will be sentenced on Sept. 29, according to the letter.

Lynch says in the letter that he objects to the sentence that Superior Court Judge Francis Darigan has said he will give the Derderians.

“Most significantly, I strongly disagree with the Court’s intention to sentence Jeffrey Derderian to less than jail,” he wrote.

In May, former Great White tour manager Daniel Biechele was sentenced to four years in prison for igniting the pyrotechnics without the required permit. He pleaded guilty in February to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Relatives of those killed were furious at the news.

“I can’t believe the attorney general is just going to stand by and say OK to this,” said Diane Mattera, whose 29-year-old, Tammy Mattera-Housa, died in the fire. “I mean, we got shafted with Biechele and now the same stuff basically is being pulled.”

Robert Bruyere, whose stepdaughter, Bonnie Hamelin, died in the fire, said he and his wife, Claire, learned about the plea on the news and had not yet heard from the attorney general.

“He better hope I don’t see him in person, because I’ll be in jail,” he said as Claire Bruyere sobbed in the background.

Chris Fontaine, whose son, Mark, died in the fire, was meeting with other family members Wednesday night for the Station Fire Memorial Foundation. She said they all learned of the deal on the evening news.

She was particularly upset because when Biechele’s plea deal was announced, many family members learned of the deal from reporters. Lynch assured her that would not happen again, she said.

Fontaine said she was also looking forward to the facts coming out at the trial.

“It’s unconscionable,” she said. “There’s been absolutely no thought or consideration for the people that have been left behind, and there are a lot of us.”

Her husband, Jerry Fontaine, said he was extremely upset about the deal.

“I am going to vote against this attorney general. Nothing’s been done in this case at all,” he said. “It’s so botched up, it’s unbelievable.”

Lynch is running for re-election in November. He had been in office for just a few weeks when the fire happened, and many victims’ family members have angrily criticized how he handled the case.

The Derderians were charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter – two counts for each person who died under separate legal theories.

One theory accused them of operating their club with criminal negligence; the other accused them of committing a misdemeanor offense – installing the non-flame-retardant foam – that led to the victims’ deaths.

Though the Derderians could have been convicted under both theories of involuntary manslaughter, they could only have been sentenced on 100 of the counts.

“There were those who maintained this fire was simply an accident, and that I sought to extend the reach of the criminal law,” Lynch’s letter says. “I disagreed, and the fact that three persons have now accepted criminal responsibility has proven my office’s position correct.”