The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-07-05
Jury Gets Coscia
 Case At 12.14 P. M.
(Continued from Page D

(Co0Clnueo their services would no longer be needed.
 Mrs. Coscia Weary
 Mrs. Carmella Coscia, wife of the accused, and Mrs. Antonio 1nsogna, his sister, appeared wearied by the ordeal of the long trial, as they sat at the side of the courtroom and listened to the judges charge. The jury polling started May 22, and the presentation of evidence began June 1, nearly five weeks ago.
 Judge Cornell, who started his charge shortly after 10 a. m. and concluded it at 11:57, defined the various types of verdicts the jury , might return.
 He explained that malice afore- thought is an essential element in first and second degree murder, and that without it killing may be manslaughter but it can not be murder in any degree.
 Malice he described as hatred, ill will, malevolence, animoslty' and said it may be expressed, or implied or inferred.
 If a homicide is not committed wilfully but nevertheless it is done without legal justification, there is implied malice, he explained.
 It is not enough to find that a nerson had malice toward the one who is killed, but the malice must be pre- -existinge beforehand, Judge Cornell stated.
 First degree murder was de- scribed as a wilful, deliberate, pre- l meditated killing, with malice aforethought. Second degree mur- der was defined as an unlawful homicide with malice aforethought but without deliberateness or pre- meditation.
 Judge Cornell dealt at length on the clements of fear, and passion in relation to the part they play in determining the degree of guilt. 'If Coscia's passion did not cool and if he fired while still under its influence then he can not be guilty of murder but of nlanslaughter, the jurist stated, after first dis cussing at length the claims made about Coscia's condition at the time of the staying.
 "If the gun was discharged acci- dentally without any consciousness on Coscia's party" then the kill ing was manslaughter, Judge Cor nell continued.
 "If you find he consciously fired 1t but that he was under the spell of overwhelming passion, then the crime is manslaughter," the jurist stated.
 Judge Cornell stated that if the jury found that Cyr was not killed accidently and that he was not shot as the result of provocation, and that there was malice aforethought on Coscia's part, but no wilfullness or premediation to shoot, then the crime is second degree.
 If the jury finds that Coscia shot and killed Cyr and that the state has proven beyond 8 reasonable doubt that there was wilfullness deliberateness, and reconciliation in the act, then the verdict should be murder in the first degree. the jurist instructed.
 When the charge was completed the jurist asked States Attorney William B. Fitzgerald and Chief De- fense Attorney Edward Mascolo foi their comments on the charge and If there were ahy requests. It was during that phase of the hearing that the acquittal element was brought up.
 Mascolo commented that by ths instructions the judge informed the jury 1t could in no sense bring ir . verdit of acquittai. The juris confirmed that, and asked the coun. scl if he knew of any basis by which such a verdict could be rem dered.
 No Change in Charge
 Mascolo then began to refer [, the tugging at and pulling of gun which Coscia claimed occurred a he stood before the Cyr kitchen door. The jurlsL made no chang, in the charge in that respect.
 Additional instructions were giy en by the jurist on several point referred to by the two counsel. On Involved the value Of the hypothe tical questions placed to psychia tflsis. The jurist stated 1t was ul to the jury to decide if the, testl niony Of the psycniatrists was an! value to them in determining thu verdict, and t was up to them ts decide f Co6eia had the capacity to commit murder
 Early in his charge the jurlsI pointed out hat the Jurors were the sole judges Of fact. and that the charge deals exclusively with the rules Of law as they should be ap- piled 10 the facts. lie pointed out that the case should not be decid. cd on individual motions or philosophles of morality or ab. stract justice"
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