NATION IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Jury Deliberating in 87-Death Club Fire
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Jurors began deliberations in the Happy Land Social Club murder trial, in which they must decide if the defendant was legally sane when he set the fire that killed 87 people at the illegal club in the Bronx. The jury received the case of Julio Gonzalez after a lengthy legal instruction from the trial judge, Burton Roberts. Relatives of the fire victims cried while Roberts read the names of all 87 aloud. Gonzalez, 37, is charged with two counts of murder for each victim--one for depraved indifference and one for felony murder--in the March 25, 1990, fire. Gonzalez set the blaze after an argument with his ex-girlfriend, a club employee.
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