DURAN CONVICTED IN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

After four hours of deliberation, a jury convicted Francisco Martin Duran of trying to assassinate President Clinton on Oct. 29. The 26-year-old Duran is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29 and faces life in prison. His lawyers plan to seek a new trial but did not tell reporters on what grounds. Duran, who was portrayed by his defense as a paranoid schizophrenic, was also convicted of assaulting four Secret Service officers, unlawful possession of a rifle and a shotgun, damaging federal property, using a weapon during a crime of violence and transporting a firearm across state lines with the intention of killing the president. The former army medic waited outside the White House for hours, then pulled a semiautomatic rifle out of his trench coat andfired 30 bullets at the front of the executive mansion. No one was hurt and the Secret Service said that the president was never in danger.