June 11, 1964 - Winston Moseley (pictured) was found guilty of murder in the first degree today in the slaying of Catherine (Kitty) Genovese in Kew Gardens, Queens, nearly three months ago.
The verdict was returned by a jury after 6½ hours of deliberation in Supreme Court, Queens, which is just a five-minute walk from the scene of the crime.
Moseley, a 29-year-old business machine operator, gave no sign of emotion as he stood while the jury foreman, Irving Helfman, announced the verdict. Throughout the trial, Moseley’s expression had remained impassive.
The jury was told by Justice J. Irwin Shapiro to return to the court Monday morning to hear testimony on the question of the sentence to be imposed. It will be either life imprisonment or death in the electric chair.
Moseley had confessed to the fatal stabbing of Miss Genovese both in a statement to the police following his arrest March 18, five days after the murder, and on the witness stand this week.
When the trial opened Monday, the defense changed its plea from one of not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity. Sidney Sparrow, Moseley’s lawyer, depicted his client as a schizophrenic personality, a latter-day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde capable of behaving as a normal, intelligent person and also, after dark, as a “monster” addicted to murder, robbery, and sexual frenzies.
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