Maria Barbella Trials: 1895-96

Prosecutors accused Barbella of murdering Cataldo for ruining her reputation and to gain access to $825 in his bank account. This theory assumed a premeditated plan, so Barbella was charged with the capital offense of firstdegree murder. When her trial began on July 11, the defense presented a different view of Barbella's behavior. They accused Cataldo of being a cad with a distasteful record of seducing young women. When Barbella pleaded with him to marry her, his reply was derisive laughter and the retort, "Only pigs marry!" Driven into a rage by his words, she had killed him. Since the rage provoked a spontaneous act, there was no premeditation. The defense asked that their client be charged with second-degree murder, which was not a capital offense, but Judge John Goff denied the motion.

When Barbella took the stand in her own defense, she testified in Italian. In spite of the imperfect translation heard by jurors, it became clear that Cataldo had drugged and seduced her. With her reputation ruined, she had gone to live with him. Shortly thereafter he announced that he was returning to Italy without her. The prosecution relentlessly asked Barbella why she had stayed with a man possessing such reprehensible morals. She replied that she loved him. Barbella continued to insist that she wanted to marry Cataldo, not murder him, and that she had no memory of the attack. Barbella's mother testified that she too had begged Cataldo to marry the girl and restore her honor. Cataldo, said Mrs. Barbella, had laughed and demanded two hundred dollars before he would do such a thing.

Such testimony elicited growing public sympathy, particularly from women. Their feelings were not shared by Judge Goff when he charged the jury on July 15. Goff said that the defendant should expect no compassion from the court simply because she was a woman. If Barbella had planned to kill Cataldo, said Judge Goff, such premeditation made her guilty of first-degree murder. The judge offered his own view of her intent. "It is, in my opinion, futile to claim before any sensible men, constituting a jury, that she intended to use that razor at the time for some purpose not disclosed, that is, for some harmless purpose; and after she took that razor, she secreted it, and followed Cataldo to the saloon. That required thought. It is for you to say whether that was an act of deliberation."