Commonwealth v. Petrillo

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Maxey,

This is an appeal by Herman Petrillo from the judgment and sentence of death after his conviction of the murder, on July 20, 1934, of Baffaele Caruso. A guard in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, found the latter’s body' in the Schuylkill River, near the Girard Avenue Bridge, on the morning of July 21, 1934. Caruso was 48 years of age and slightly crippled in one leg. The established cause of death was drowning. To connect criminally this defendant with Caruso’s death, the Commonwealth relied on (1) proof of a mercenary motive, (2) the testimony of alleged accomplices,…