The Nation - News from Jan. 24, 1989

Jurors in New York City ended their first day of deliberations without reaching a verdict in the trial of Joel Steinberg, who is accused of beating to death his illegally adopted daughter in a case that stirred national debate about responsibility for reporting child abuse. State Supreme Court Justice Harold Rothwax finished his instructions to the jury shortly after noon, telling the panel to consider lesser homicide charges only if they first acquit Steinberg of murder. Steinberg, 47, is charged in the death of 6-year-old Lisa Steinberg, the girl he obtained at birth from an unwed teen-ager but never legally adopted. His lawyers charge that Hedda Nussbaum, 46, his battered live-in companion, delivered the fatal blow. The jury deliberated for almost nine hours, officials said.