People v. Sepe

Angiolillo, J.P.

(dissenting). Following a brief conversation about an upcoming family Easter dinner party, the defendant brutally bludgeoned Jeanette Carlucci multiple times with a baseball bat, causing her death. By the defendant’s own sworn account at trial, immediately before he delivered the first blow, Carlucci responded to his plea that they cancel the dinner party with a single question, “are you crazy?,” uttered “in a normal tone” of voice. A jury of 12 determined that the defendant’s homicidal act was not “an understandable human response deserving of mercy” (People v Casassa, 49…