Angelina Mariano Research Paper

Imagine this. You’re being abused by your husband and forced to work while you're six months pregnant or your unborn baby will die. Sounds like a movie, right? This was the reality for 29 year old, Angelina Napolitano. She was abused for years after getting married at the age of 15. Angelina had enough of the abuse and murdered her husband. The trial was in May 1911 and she was sentenced to hang. Shortly after, the story hit the newspapers. Angelina’s story started awareness of domestic violence.

Angelina was born in Italy, in a small town around 1883. She married her husband in 1898 and immigrated to America. They lived in New York for seven years then moved to Canada in 1909.
They first lived in Thessalon, Ontario, then in Sault Ste. Marie. The couple was extremely violent. In November 1910 he attacked her with a pocket knife, wounding her 9 times.
They had many arguments and fights.

When the trial resumed on Tuesday, May 9th, they said she was guilty and sentenced to hang. The execution was scheduled for August 9th, a month after her babies due date. On July 14th, the jury changed their minds and sentenced her to life in prison. Eleven years later on December 30th, 1922, she was granted parole. Many citizens thought she deserved a penalty but many thought she was brave and thought she deserved parole. Many feminists tried to prove that Pietro's beatings meant the attack was self-defense. A doctor in Ohio, Dr. Alexander Aalto offered to get hanged instead of Angelina saying “It would only be fair to Mrs. Napolitano for a man to give his life for her, inasmuch as her life is in peril on account of a man's persecution of her, and because men condemned her.” Other arguments stated that she was innocent because her pregnancy made her “temporarily insane”. The public doesn't know if any of these arguments had an impact but the jury declared Angelina to go to prison for life, instead of being hanged. She died in