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Smithtown-John Pius murdered near the Dogwood Elementary School

From the NY TImes:
L.I. BROTHERS, 16 AND 17, GUILTY OF MURDER
By JAMES BARRON
Published: May 9, 1981
Two teen-age brothers charged with taking part in the 1979 killing of a 13-year-old boy who saw them steal a motorless minibike worth $5 were convicted of second-degree murder yesterday in Riverhead, L.I.

A jury of 11 men and one woman in Suffolk County Court deliberated less than three hours in reaching guilty verdicts against the two – Peter Quartararo, 17, and his brother Michael, l6. After the verdicts were returned, ending a 10-week trial, the parents of the victim hugged each other and wept in the courtroom of Judge Robert W. Doyle.

Although the slaying occurred more than two years ago, on April 20, 1979, it continues to trouble the neighborhood in the Town of Smithtown, containing the homes of both the victim, John Pius, and the defendants. The case led to allegations that the Suffolk County police were not sufficiently aggressive in their investigation, violated the constitutional rights of the suspects and coerced one of the brothers into giving a confession.

Second Trial to Come

The trial of Robert Brensic, 19, of 43 Marquette Drive, Smithtown, for murder in the same case is expected to begin in the next few weeks. A fourth youth was cited by a grand jury as a co-conspirator but was not indicted.

The Quartararo brothers, of 34 Colgate Drive, were not arrested until eight months after the slaying. By then, word that they had allegedly had a hand in the boy’s death had spread and they continued to attend school while neighbors taunted them as ‘’murderers’’ and threw stones at them. At the time, Peter was nearing his 16th birthday and Michael was 14.

The victim died after he was beaten up and pebbles the size of marbles were forced down his throat, causing him to suffocate. Hidden Behind School

His attackers also heaved logs and scattered leaves across his body in a ravine behind Dogwood Elementary School in Smithtown. Detectives discovered the body after an extensive search of the neighborhood.

The police said the two brothers thought he had seen them steal the minibike and were afraid that he would expose them. They chased him as he rode his own bicycle around the schoolyard, according to the police, but he could not pedal fast enough to get away from them.

The Quartararo brothers were treated as adults, rather than as juvenile offenders, under provisions of a 1978 state law that allows young defendants to be placed on trial instead of being brought before Family Court. Sentencing June 3

They face a minimum sentence of five years to life imprisonment. Judge Doyle scheduled sentencing for June 9.In the time between the slaying and the arrests, parents and lawyers complained about the tactics used by the police in the investigation. They contended that the suspects were coerced into getting into police cars and going to homicide-squad headquarters, where they were detained on no stated charges.

At the time, the police denied that they were holding the youths – a statement that did not ease parents’ minds in a neighborhood that had just been through an extensive search for the slain boy. One parent even filed a missing person report.

It was during one of these sessions with the police that Peter Quartararo’s confession was recorded, as Detectives Anthony Palumbo and Gary Leonard drove him around the elementary school where the body had been found. The confession was assailed by the lawyers for both brothers. Peter testified that he did not know that what he was saying was being tape recorded.

The first time the tape was played in court – at a preliminary hearing last summer – the victim’s father, John Pius, exploded in a rage and threatened the Quartararos if they were acquitted. It took five court officers to subdue him.

Out of court, Mr. Pius and his wife, Barbara, found it difficult to restrain their anger. They moved to Florida, hoping to escape the emotional ties of the neighborhood here. But they say their bitterness over the death of their only child has not diminished.

‘’After two years,’’ Mrs. Pius said, ‘’I’m starting to communicate with God again. I’m still angry with Him over what happened to Johnny and to the good in this terrible, terrible world we live in.’’ Later, in an hourlong conversation, she added that after her son died, ‘’I used to lie in bed and talk to Johnny and ask him to forgive me. I couldn’t even say the word God.’’

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