POP/ROCK - Feb. 18, 1987

A lawsuit that claims two teen-agers in Sparks, Nev., were driven to a suicide pact after listening to an album by the rock group Judas Priest has been scheduled for a 1988 trial. Judge Jerry Carr Whitehead said he set the trial well in advance--for May 2, 1988--so it would have first priority that day. The suit, which names the British group and CBS Records, was filed by James Vance and the mother of Raymond Belknap. Belknap, who was 18, died from a shotgun blast in December, 1985, while Vance, now 21, was left disfigured by a second shot. The two shot themselves after spending the afternoon listening to the group’s “Stained Class” LP.