Life of quiet desperation
William Carrasquillo's life seemed pretty grim when he surrendered to police July 3 and was charged with abuse of corpse for storing the body of his 84-year-old mother, Andrea, in a basement chest freezer for almost a half year.
It hasn't got better.
The lawyer for the 58-year-old Feltonville pizza delivery man went before Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge James M. DeLeon asking for Carrasquillo to be released without bail while awaiting trial on the second-degree misdemeanor.
"He's not doing well at all in prison," said defense lawyer Fred Goodman, arguing that Carrasquillo had no prior criminal record, was not a danger to the community and not about to flee from the Lee Street rowhouse he jointly owned with his late mother.
Goodman said Carrasquillo had cared for years for his mother, who had schizophrenia and had difficulty communicating with others, including her other children. Carrasquillo worked 23 years delivering pizza, Goodman said, but depended on his mother's Social Security check to care for her and their house.
"Money was very tight," Goodman said, and when his mother died Carrasquillo continued cashing her Social Security checks for five months until guilt made him call his daughter-in-law and reveal that Andrea Carrasquillo died months earlier after a fall.
"Nobody knew she died," Goodman told the astonished judge.
"Nobody knew mom was on ice?" DeLeon asked.
Goodman said the woman was so disabled by mental illness that no one visited and no one but her and her son had a key to their house.
The judge seemed sympathetic to the request to reduce Carrasquillo's $30,000 bail and Goodman said the city Medical Examiner's office had assured him Andrea Carrasquillo's death was from natural causes but the ruling would not be official until after blood toxicology test results came back.
Assistant District Attorney Dana Masciontonio, however, argued that letting Carrasquillo sign his own unsecured bail bond was premature until the autopsy results were official. Moreover, the prosecutor said, investigators were still looking at whether Carrasquillo illegally spent any of his mother's Social Security benefits on personal expenses.
"How about $10,000?" DeLeon asked Goodman.
"Ten thousand is still unreasonable," replied Goodman, referring to Carrasquillo's inability to pay even the 10 percent necessary to get out of prison.
"Okay, $15,000," shot back the judge.
Goodman, stunned, asked what happened to $10,000.
"I was willing to do $10,000 but you said it was unreasonable so it's $15,000,"the judge added and called the next case.
Unless he can raise $1,500, Carrasquillo will remain in the city's Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility pending his next court appearance on Sept. 11.