Trial Opens for 2 Accused of Jordan Downs Arson

More than two years after an arson fire roared through an apartment in the Jordan Downs housing project and killed five members of a family, a jury was sworn in Monday to hear the case against the men charged with the crime.

The prosecution’s case will try to show that Harold Mangram, 48, and Victor Spencer, 39, set the fire at the home of Juan and Guadalupe Zuniga to ingratiate themselves with crack cocaine dealers.

There were 17 people sleeping at the Zuniga’s apartment the morning of Sept. 7, 1991. Marta Lopez, 22, her three young children and Guadalupe Zuniga’s 78-year-old mother, Margarita Hernandez, were trapped in an upstairs bedroom and died.

The dealers had long sold drugs from the family’s doorstep, the prosecution contends, and found the Zunigas to be an impediment to their business when they moved in.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Sterling E. Norris has said that Mangram and Spencer were cocaine addicts who took it upon themselves to set the fire and later were paid in cocaine.

Mangram and Spencer face the death penalty if convicted.

Defense lawyers Michael Azbug and Guy O’Brien told the jury that they will focus on inconsistencies in the testimony of witnesses who have linked the defendants to the fire.

An arson investigator led off the testimony Monday by telling the jury that the fire was started after as much as two gallons of gasoline was poured into the mail chute in a door of the Zuniga’s apartment.

The resulting fire sped through the apartment. In the chaos, Juan Zuniga shot a neighbor who had come into the kitchen to help the family escape.

That neighbor survived and is expected to testify for the prosecution.