Following is a chronology of events in the Santiago firebombing case:

Oct. 5, 1975:  At about 3:20 a.m. a firebomb is thrown into the Feltonville home of Radames Santiago. In the fire, Mrs. Santiago and four children are killed.

Nelson Garcia, 14, who was on the Santiago porch when the fire started, tells police he saw Robert (Reds) Wilkinson throw the fire bomb.

Police charge Wilkinson, 26, and Ronald Hanley, 37, with five counts of murder. Police say the bombing was the climax of a long "neighborhood dispute."

Oct. 10, 1975:  More than 500 Puerto Rican city residents demonstrate outside City Hall, calling for "justice in the Santiago case."  One poster says:  "We want Hanley and Wilkinson to pay with their lives."

Feb. 24, 1976:  Common Pleas Court Judge Alex Bonavitacola rules in a pretrial hearing that a "confession" by Wilkinson is inadmissible as evidence. Bonavitacola says that Wilkinson, who is mildly retarded, was unable to understand his constitutional warnings during a police interrogation.

In the confession, Wilkinson allegedly said:  "I lit the bomb and threw it through the Puerto Ricans' window. I heard a ba-boom saw a little flame."  Wilkinson testifies that he was beaten by police and forced to sign a false confession; he also says he was not the firebomber.

March 15, 1976:  Common Pleas Court Judge Theodore B. Smith rules, in another pretrial hearing, that a "confession" by Hanley is inadmissible as evidence. The judge writes that Hanley was severely beaten by police during his interrogation. In the confession, Hanley allegedly said that he and Wilkinson had plotted the firebombing and that Wilkinson was the firebomber.

March 26, 1976:  Wilkinson's trial is scheduled to begin, but Assistant District Attorney David Berman, the prosecutor, asks for a delay. The reason is that David McGinnis, a neighbor of Wilkinson and Hanley, has volunteered to give the prosecutor new evidence.

McGinnis comes to the district attorney's office, but before speaking he asks for and is given immunity. He then tells the district attorney he threw the fatal firebomb. He says that Hanley plotted the bombing and that Wilkinson was not involved.

March 29, 1976:  Jury selection begins in Wilkinson's trial before Common Pleas Court Judge John A. Geisz. Berman makes no mention of McGinnis' statement of three days before.

April 6, 1976:  As jury selection continues in the Wilkinson trial, the district attorney drops murder charges against Hanley. Berman says that after Judge Smith threw out Hanley's statement, the prosecution did not have sufficient evidence to convict him. Again, Berman does not mention the March 26 McGinnis statement, which incriminated Hanley.

April 9, 1976:  The Wilkinson jury is selected. Berman gives an emotional opening argument. "The piper will be paid for five lives," Berman tells the jury. "In one violent act, all his (Wilkinson's) intentions and motives culminated in the massacre of five people who did nothing more than move onto the wrong street – and who this man (Wilkinson) decided to punish."

April 16, 1976:  The prosecution's only eyewitness, Garcia, testifies that he watched from the Santiago porch on North Fourth Street on the night of the firebombing and saw Wilkinson throw the bomb.

April 19, 1976:  After the prosecution closes its case, defense attorney Robert Matthews calls for a special hearing without the jury present. He calls Berman as a witness and asks him about the McGinnis confession on March 26.

Berman admits that McGinnis made the statement, but the prosecutor says he dismissed the confession as "garbage and a pack of lies."  He says he threw away a tape recording of part of the McGinnis statement. He explains his actions by saying he believed that McGinnis was trying to clear himself and Wilkinson as part of a "neighborhood conspiracy" to prevent anyone from being prosecuted.

Judge Geisz decides that a written portion of the McGinnis confession of March 26 is not admissible as evidence. He also defends Berman's handling of the McGinnis statement by saying:  "The district attorney has done everything he can . . . There is nothing to show me . . . that the district attorney has not lived up to the highest ethical standards."

April 22, 1976:  The defense opens its case before the jury. Wilkinson testifies that he was on his way home from buying his wife cigarets when he spotted the fire. He says he quickly drove to a fire alarm box; he was the first person that night to pull a fire alarm. Wilkinson tells the jury he had nothing to do with the firebombing.

April 28, 1976:  Both the prosecution and defense have rested their cases. But before the closing arguments, a Feltonville neighbor of the Santiagos – Judy Cucinotta – comes forward with dramatic new evidence.

She testifies that she saw the entire firebombing incident from her bedroom window. She says that McGinnis threw the firebomb, while standing alongside Hanley. She says she did not see Wilkinson on the street.

April 29, 1976:  In his closing argument, Berman tells the jury that Mrs. Cucinotta was lying as part of the neighborhood conspiracy to free everyone from prosecution. He accuses Wilkinson and a "traveling show of murderers" – the white neighbors of the Santiagos – of conspiring to drive the Puerto Rican family from North Fourth Street.