Trial in White House Shooting Delayed : Defense: Judge gives Duran’s attorney more time to decide on possible insanity plea. Coloradan is charged with attempted assassination.

A federal judge Tuesday set a March 16 trial date for Francisco Martin Duran--who is accused of spraying the White House with bullets Oct. 29--after Duran’s attorney said she would need several more weeks to consider a possible insanity defense.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Richey gave Leigh Kenny until Jan. 6 to tell the court whether Duran, 26, would plead insanity. He is accused of firing more than 25 shots from a semiautomatic weapon while standing among tourists on the sidewalk in front of the White House. Richey instructed Kenny to file other defense motions by that date, including any arguments to suppress items of evidence.

Richey also postponed acting on a request by news organizations to make public a two-page letter written by Duran that was found by federal officers after his arrest. The judge said that he first must consider any motions that Kenny might file.

Kenny, an assistant U.S. public defender, said that she needs to interview more people who have known Duran as well as read more than 2,000 pages of material relating to the case and analyze videotapes of the shooting. “I have quite a bit of investigation to do,” she told the court.

Following a jury verdict in 1982 that cleared John W. Hinckley Jr. of criminal conduct in wounding President Ronald Reagan, Congress tightened the federal statutes governing insanity defenses.

At the time of Hinckley’s trial, prosecutors had the burden of proof to show that Hinckley was sane, that he could determine right from wrong and that he could control his behavior. But under the new statutes, insanity defenses are more difficult to prove.

Now the defense bears the burden of showing insanity “by clear and convincing evidence.” The defense also must show that the accused has a serious mental disorder--not just a personality defect--that prevented him from knowing right from wrong. There no longer is any behavioral standard.

Federal prosecutors have charged Duran with the attempted assassination of President Clinton, an offense carrying a maximum punishment of life imprisonment, even though officials repeatedly have said that the shots fired randomly at the White House never endangered Clinton. Duran also faces charges of assaulting law enforcement officers, weapon violations and destruction of federal property. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Prosecutors apparently are basing the most serious charge on threats that acquaintances in Colorado said they heard Duran make against Clinton. Duran, an upholsterer for a hotel in Colorado Springs, abruptly left his job and family a month before his arrest.

Richey said that the trial is “not complicated” and should take no more than two weeks. Assistant U.S. Atty. Eric A. Dubelier said that the government’s case will be based on testimony from about 25 witnesses.

Duran, who appeared in court Tuesday wearing a blue prison jumpsuit, was not asked to speak during the 30-minute proceeding.

In Brazil, meanwhile, a Brazilian whose videotape of the gunman firing at the White House last month was shown on U.S. television has died of a blood clot at age 70, his doctor said Tuesday.

Caetano Cariani died Nov. 16, less than 24 hours after being hospitalized with sharp pains in his right leg, said Dr. Fabio Linardi in Sorocaba, about 70 miles west of Sao Paulo. Linardi said the clot was caused by a bacterial infection.

Cariani was vacationing in Washington when he filmed the shooting.