People v. Sartori

134 N.W. 200, 168 Mich. 308, 1912 Mich. LEXIS 529
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 23, 1912
DocketDocket No. 192
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 134 N.W. 200 (People v. Sartori) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Sartori, 134 N.W. 200, 168 Mich. 308, 1912 Mich. LEXIS 529 (Mich. 1912).

Opinion

Blair, J.

The respondent was tried and convicted of murder under an information charging that:

“Bartolomeo Sartori, Gustavo lacovoni, and Ulderico lacovoni, late of the township of Walker of the county of Kent, on, to wit, the 5th day of Septémber, 1909, at the township of Walker, Kent county, aforesaid, did feloniously, wilfully, and the said Bartolomeo Sartori of his malice aforethought, and the said Gustavo lacovoni of his malice aforethought, and the said Ulderico lacovoni of his malice aforethought, then and there did kill and murder one Mario Pavoni.”

The Iacovonis demanded separate trials, and respondent Sartori was tried first. Some nine months later, the respondent Ulderico lacovoni, son of the respondent Gustavo lacovoni, was tried and acquitted, whereupon a nolle prosequi was entered against Gustavo.

Mario Pavoni lived upon a rough, very hilly piece of land, upon which was an old run-down peach orchard. His house stood upon the north side of an east and west highway near the foot of a hill. The hill began at the highway and extended upward at an angle of 35 degrees 250 to 300 feet, then down on the other side across a narrow valley, and then up another hill not so high or steep as the first. The top of this second hill was about 750 feet from the house in which Pavoni lived, and north of the house. East of this peach orchard was a strip of woods, at Pavoni’s east line. North of Pavoni’s land, about one-third of a mile, was another peach orchard, [311]*311which, extended to a little lake further north, and which lake was about a mile from Pavoni’s house. The second hill above referred to sloped to a deep valley, beyond which was a third hill.

Mrs. Pavoni testified: That she and her husband got up ■at about 6:30 o’clock on Sunday morning, September 5th, and their son Alfredo, 12 years old, got up four or five minutes later. That her husband went out “ saying that he would go right over the hill and look over the peach orchard.” That Alfredo went after the cow. That after her husband started up the hill Gustavo lacovoni came to the house, and, 30 or 40 feet behind the house, and towards the woods, she saw Sartori and Ulderico lacovoni ■going up the hill. At this time, her husband, who had got about halfway up the hill, turned and came back and joined in the conversation. That her husband went back up the hill with Gustavo, and she saw them as' far as the top of the hill. That the Iacovonis and Sartori had guns, but her husband did not. That near the top of the hill her husband tried, as appeared by his motions, to get Gustavo’s gun, but did not succeed. That some four or five minutes after her husband went over the hill Alfredo followed him. That four or five minutes after her son passed the hill she heard two shots, and then screams of her husband, followed by screams from her son. That thereupon she fell off the steps in a hysterical fit.

Vincennes De Petris, a boarder at Pavoni’s, testified that he saw Alfredo go over the hill, and six or seven minutes after he went over the first hill he heard two shots with hardly any interval between them, maybe a second, and then he heard the cry.

“As soon as the shots were heard, Pavoni’s wife began to holler and cry that they killed both, and of course he put attention to Pavoni’s wife.”

In a short time he went over the hill, finding Hugo Imperi there at the top of the hill. Hugo had no gun. That they then went on and found the bodies of Pavoni [312]*312and his son near the top of the second hill. The body of Pavoni lay some 80 or 90 feet west of the woods on his east line and from 10 to 15 feet further south than the body of his son. A trail of blood showed that he had dragged himself some 25 or 30 feet down the hill. There were shots on the east side of a peach tree near where Pavoni was killed, showing that the charges came from the east. There were numerous shot in Pavoni’s body, his wrist was shattered, there were powder marks and bruises on his neck, and his face was scratched up. There were two knife wounds penetrating his lungs, which the coroner said were the direct cause of his death. The boy had been killed by three separate cuts across and around his throat with a knife.

No witness testified that he saw the murder committed, but Sartori testified to what occurred upon his being overtaken by Pavoni; and, upon the trial of Ulderico lacovoni, he and his father testified upon the same subject. According to Sartori:

“ He hadn’t seen Pavoni until when he saw him right in his back on the third hill.”

That prior to that day Pavoni, “He say, ‘Don’t come near my land nor in my house.’” That after Pavoni ordered him off his land, Pavoni tried to get Gustavo’s gun, and, failing, became enraged and jumped towards him, whereupon he, backing up, threw down his cap in front of Pavoni and told him that if he passed the cap he would “ do away with ” him. That thereupon Pavoni backed away and started for home, saying, as he went away:

“ Saturday I will have my own gun, and then we will see one another.”

That then Sartori and the lacovonis went away towards the lake. That he did not see Alfredo that morning and did not again see Mario Pavoni. On the way to the lake he heard two shots at an interval of about a second [313]*313apart back towards Pavoni. That “ they had then walked about 200 meters probably, or more.” That he never thought to look back to see where the shots came from, but continued on his way to the lake. That he intended to shoot Pavoni in the leg if he passed the cap.

There was testimony tending to show enmity between Pavoni and Sartori growing out of Sartori’s alleged advice to Mrs. Pavoni to run away with a young man by the name of Guarino De Bartolomeo, and that each had threatened the life of the other. Pavoni had forbidden Sartori to come near his land or in his house.

Respondent’s assignments of error, upon which he relies for a reversal, are as follows:

(1) That the said trial court erred in admitting testimony in relation to the killing of the boy Alfredo Pavoni.
(2) There was an error in admitting the following questions and answers:
“Q. Do you know whether or not Iacovoni had arranged with Pavoni to have Pavoni come over to Iacovoni’s that night ?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. What was the arrangement about ? Why did Pavoni agree to come over to Iacovoni’s ? What was it that Pavoni was coming over there to see about ? ”
(3) That the court erred in refusing to strike out the testimony of Guiliani, who acted as an interpreter in quizzing the respondent in the jail immediately after their arrest.
(4) The court erred in admitting the answers to leading questions found on pages 143 and 189 of the record.
(5) The court erred in admitting the witness Innocence Pavoni to testify in relation to her own physical condition.
(6) The court erred in excluding the testimony of Joseph Martini in relation to what Sacciucci told him the morning after the murder about the killing of Pavoni.

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Bluebook (online)
134 N.W. 200, 168 Mich. 308, 1912 Mich. LEXIS 529, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-sartori-mich-1912.