This is a heart-wrenching story case and I’m not sure there is a right or wrong answer.  As always, I’ll leave it to you to decide.

It begins on a cold February day in Brooklyn, New York.   Francesco Caruso, a Sicilian-born plasterer and longshoreman burst into the local drug store, pleading for help. His son Joseph, a child of six, was dying.

Caruso was an impoverished father of six. He had never called a doctor for any of his children. It was not feasible financially, and he trusted the simple home remedies his family had always practiced. Fear began to creep in as days passed and little Joe’s health grew worse. Now his boy was dangerously ill.

Dr. Casper Pendola

Dr. Caspar Pendola was summoned and immediately grasped the seriousness of the situation. As Francesco Caruso watched, the young doctor gave the child an injection of antitoxin. Little Joe grew quiet and the doctor promised to return the following day to check on his small patient.

In the early morning hours of February 13, the little boy died. Dr. Pendola was not informed of the child’s death and he returned that morning, as promised.

Caruso later gave different versions of what was said in the moments after the doctor arrived. According to his first account, he accused the doctor of killing his son. He must have injected poison into the child.  Dr. Pendola laughed and said, “Surely it can’t be my fault.”

Police theorized that the doctor had really tried to reassure the distraught man that the antitoxin was the only possible remedy that could have saved his son’s life. An autopsy later proved definitively the doctor didn’t kill little Joe. The child had been ill with diphtheria at least a week before Dr. Pendola was called.

Whatever words passed between them, it was only a matter of moments until Caruso threw himself at the doctor and got his hands around the Pendola’s neck. Dr. Pendola was a young man of 27, but he could not fight off the grief-stricken father.  He strangled the doctor and then cut his throat. Caruso was willing to admit he choked Dr. Pendola but denied that he used a knife on the physician.

Dr. Pendola left behind a young wife and an 8-month-old daughter, Catherine. But when Caruso was arrested for the doctor’s murder, he was unrepentant. “He jabbed a needle in my Joey,” Caruso cried when arrested. “That’s what killed my boy. So I killed that doctor, too.”

Caruso’s wife Marie tried earnestly to save him by attempting to convince the police she had committed the murder. Like her husband, Marie Caruso had immigrated from Sicily and neither spoke English fluently.  Police got the gist of what she was saying but dismissed her claims at once.  She stared after the officers who escorted her husband away in handcuffs. It would be up to Mrs. Caruso, nearly penniless, to somehow feed and care for their five remaining children and see to little Joe’s burial.

Caruso’s booking photo

The indictment against Caruso charged him with strangling the physician before slitting his throat. His case would be heard by Judge Alonzo McLaughlin.

The district attorney didn’t anticipate any issues getting a conviction. The murder was a straightforward one and the accused admitted his guilt. A few days later, a panel of 100 “blue ribbon” potential jurors was summoned to the county court. To the district attorney’s surprise, they were eliminated one by one.

One potential juror was excused when he said the doctor was lax and he had “lost a little girl the same way.” The would-be juror added that he didn’t resort to violence but he “felt like it.”

The next potential juror said, “”Twenty-eight years ago my son was murdered, and I believe every one who commits a murder should pay the penalty.” Judge McLaughlin excused him.

After 100 potential jurors were examined, only eleven were selected. Court officials were told to find the few outliers who did not answer the summons to serve on the jury. It was among these men that they found the final juror.

The next day, jurors reported for duty, and a large tense crowd filled the courtroom. The judge surprised everyone by postponing the trial until April 4 to give the defense more time to prepare.

A piercing shriek startled everyone. It was the doctor’s widow, Mrs. Helen Pendola.  “My God! Is there no justice at all?” she demanded. “This man murdered my husband and it was a cruel, cold murder.  He should be killed! Instead he gets an adjournment.” The widow’s friends managed to quiet her. The reporters followed her out and eagerly questioned her again outside the courtroom.

Mrs. Pendola responded angrily, “If this were Massachusetts, where they have real law, he’d be killed by now. This is a shame. What happened to Dr. Pendola may happen to any doctor. My husband was killed while doing his duty. Any one that ever knew him knows that he was a gentleman and true.”

Go to Part 2.