People v. Delfino
People v. Delfino
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a conviction of murder in the first degree at the oyer and terminer of Kings county, April 25, 1893, Hon. Edgar M. Cullen presiding.
The defendant was indicted and tried for the killing of Caroline Gessell by shooting, on the 27th day of December, 1892, at her residence in DeGraw street, Brooklyn, which resulted in her " death on the 12th of January, 1893. The record is voluminous,
A brief reference to the evidence given in behalf of the People will show whether the verdict is justified. The defendant is an Italian, about twenty-seven years of age, living, at the time of the homicide, with his wife and children in rooms in Brooklyn, a few blocks distant from 467 DeGraw street, where the deceased, Caroline Gessell, a young German woman about twenty-two years old, resided with her' husband and child.1 The two families had known each other for some time prior to the homicide, and seem to have visited together. The defend-' ant immediately prior to the homicide called frequently in the evening at the Gessell house. He was something of a musician and owned an aecordeon. He took this with him to Gessell’s and played on it there, and occasionally there was dancing. The wife of the defendant was confined about ten days before the homicide. The defendant had been in the country about twelve years. At first he was shoeblack, afterwards a barber, and finally he dealt in birds, which he bought from Italian vessels arriving in New York. He had a friend in New York named Pegar, also an Italian, who with his wife resided in Elizabeth street. Mrs. Pegar had stood as godmother to one of the defendant’s children. The families of Pegar and the defendant visited together, and through the defendant the Pegars became acquainted also with the Gessells.
About two o’clock on the afternoon of December 27,1892, the defendant went to the house of Pegar and invited Pegar and his wife to go to his house in Brooklyn to see the defendant’s wife and baby. Mrs. Pegar could not go, and the defendant was invited to sit down to dinner, which he did, and he remained at
It was claimed by the defendant on the trial, and in this his wife corroborated him, that he had owned the pistol several years and carried it for protection while on the docks engaged in his business. The pistol was examined by Pegar and other persons ait the time it was exhibited at Pegar’s house, and Pegar thought it was not then loaded. The defendant urged Pegar to go with Mm to his house in Brooklyn, although Pegar’s wife could not go. He consented, and when the car reached a ■point near DeGraw street the defendant wanted Pegar to go with him first to the Gessell house. Pegar told him he did not want to go there, but upon being urged by the defendant he ■consented, the defendant saying “Well, we go there.. We goi right away there. Then we will go to my house.” When they came to the house the testimony of Pegar as to what occurred before entering it and immediately thereafter is as follows:
“Q. He said ‘Maybe she is all alone,’ is that right? A. Yes, sir. Q. Who said that to you? A. Delfino, ‘She has the door locked; maybe she bad the door locked.’ Q. Go slowly, because we want to understand; ‘Maybe she has the door locked?’ A. The door locked; yes, sir. Q. Well, what else, what next was said? A. Well, I told Mm, ‘What is the matter with you, because she has got the doior lo eked;, and he says, ‘ Well, we had ■a little trouble last night, or the night before,’ something like that, he said, ‘and they don’t want me to go in the house mo more;’ that is what be said. So, when I heard that, I didn’t want to go up at all. He said, ‘Well, it don’t take long; maybe the husband is home.’ So I went up with Mm, and I was in the front of the door, and he knocked on the door behind my back. Q. Describe that to the jury; how was that done? A. When we went up and I was in front, he was behind me, and he knocked on the door behind my back. Q. What did he say to you before you did that? A. Well, he says, ‘You give your name, and say who you are; then she open the door for you.’ So, I didn’t knock on the door; he knocked on the door behind my back. ■Q. Over your shoulder? A. Over my shoulder, knocked on the door, and she said, ‘Who is there?’ I said ‘Mr. Pegar.’ She
The defendant soon left the house, leaving Ms pistol, hat and overcoat in the room. The pistol was a five-barrelled, 38-caliber “American Bulldog,’-’ and the shells therein were found to have been discharged. The defendant did not go to his home that night, but the next morning w'as found in a bed with Ms clothes on in a room two or three miles distant from his home, Which had no furniture except a bed. He pretended to the officer who arrested Mm that he could not understand English,! but afterwards, on being asked if he was the man who shot the woman on De Graw street, he said: “No, it was Pegar who shot the woman.” When arrested, his mustache, which he wore the day before, had been shaved off. The woman Gesse-ll was found to be wounded in three places; a ball had entered the left side near the tenth rib, one had penetrated the left thigh and the back of her left hand had been furrowed by a bullet. None of the wounds were -necessarily fatal, but blood poisoning supervened, of which she died. The evidence given on the part of the People justified the jury in convicting the defendant of murder in the first degree. The shots were discharged while the pistol was in -his hands. His advances towards Mrs. Gessell had b-een repulsed. He entered the house after he had been requested not to go there again. Even if no murderous intent was then in his mind, the inference i-s very strong from Pegar’s
We perceive no reasons for interfering with the verdict of the jury.
The judgment should, therefore, be affirmed.
All concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- PEOPLE v. JOHN DELFINO
- Status
- Published