People v. McDonald

■ Between December 1993 and May 1995, defendant Harry McDonald lived in a second-floor apartment at 5941 West North Avenue in Chicago. He lived alone, in apartment No. 204. He was in his forties and had long suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

On May 6, 1995, the defendant set fire to a third-floor apartment, No. 303, in his building. Eric West, Hardell Preston, and their three young children, Erica, Eric Jr., and Edonya, lived in that third-floor apartment. Vera Holmes lived in another apartment on the third floor.

The defendant was charged with four counts of first degree murder for the…