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EXCERPT FROM BRIEF FILED BY THE QUEENS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY WITH THE NEW YORK STATE COURT OF APPEALS IN THE CASE OF PEOPLE V. MOSELEY | ||
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The defendant, Winston Moseley, killed, robbed and attempted to r*pe Katherine Genovese, a stranger on her way home from work, in the early morning hours of March 13, 1964. Moseley had spent the hour between 2:00 A.M. and 3:00 A.M. cruising the streets in his automobile looking for a woman alone, contemplating murder, r*pe and robbery. He followed his selected victim as she drove home alone in her automobile. After she parked her car, Katherine Genovese became frightened and ran when she saw Moseley. He ran after her for about twenty feet and stabbed her twice in the back, on the street. Her screams awakened several of her neighbors, and one of them yelled out of his window. This frightened Moseley and he left his victim, jumped into his automobile and backed it into an adjoining street. After a few minutes, Moseley decided that no one would come down to investigate. To provide himself with a better disguise, he changed hats, returned to the scene, searched the area and found his victim lying in a hallway, adjoining her home, around the corner from the initial attack. He stabbed her a few more times in the throat when she began to scream again, and then in the abdominal and chest areas. He robbed her and then attempted s*x**l int*rc**rse. Minutes later the victim was alive when a neighbor and the police appeared. She was pronounced dead on arrival in an ambulance at the hospital.
No attempt was made at the trial to dispute the commission of the crime. No objection was made to the introduction of defendant's confession. Defendant took the stand and corroborated it in detail. The sole defense was based upon a plea of insanity. John W. Carroll, a homicide squad detective arrived at the scene at about 4:20 A.M. while deceased was still alive. . . . William Benenson, Assistant Medical Examiner, performed an autopsy on the deceased . . . . In his opinion, the cause of death was "bilateral pneumothorax due to multiple stab wounds", and he defined that term as "meaning air in the chest cavities compressing the lungs". | ||