Josephine Terranova

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Josephine Pullare Terranova (April 21, 1889 in San Stefano, Sicily – July 16, 1981 in California) was the defendant in a sensational murder trial in New York City in 1906. After years of sexual abuse at the hands of her aunt and uncle, she stabbed the pair to death. A jury later acquitted her in what was widely regarded as an act of jury nullification. She later settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, allegedly with the financial assistance of William Randolph Hearst.

The case was a major national news story at the time, leading to a widespread public debate on the proper role of psychiatric expertise in judicial proceedings. It was largely forgotten until the appearance of a 2004 article in the Western New England Law Review by Brown University Professor Jacob M. Appel.