Did victim's religious belief's lead to own homicide?
Connecticut authorities weigh charges after transfusion refusal
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Stephen M. Ferenz is escorted from the Greenwich, Connecticut, police station on January 2, 2004, for arraignment.
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GREENWICH, Connecticut (AP) -- When Carol Ferenz stood by her religious principles, it may have cost her life. It certainly left authorities in a legal quandary about her son.
Ferenz, a Jehovah's Witness, turned down a blood transfusion after she was stabbed repeatedly in her Greenwich home on New Year's Eve. The Westchester County Medical Examiner in New York said her death was a homicide caused by blood loss from stab wounds.
Her 42-year-old son, Stephen Ferenz, who is mentally ill, is charged with assault. Authorities are weighing whether to charge him with homicide; they are looking at what role his mother's refusal of a transfusion played in her death.
"Certainly it had to play some role," said prosecutor Jim Bernardi. "At this point, the degree to which it affected the outcome is still awaiting a review of the medical records."
Jehovah's Witnesses cite verses in the Bible that they say forbid transfusions. One often-cited Leviticus passage reads: "Whatsoever man ... eats any manner of blood, I will cut him off from among his people."
Ferenz is being held on $1 million bail under a suicide watch.
A similar case occurred in 1998 in California, when a Jehovah's Witness who was hit by a drunken driver refused a transfusion and died. The 32-year-old driver, Keith Cook, blamed Jadine Russell's death on her religious faith, but Cook was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Most defenses in such cases fail, said Laurie Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
"Overwhelmingly, the person who inflicted the harm is still responsible, notwithstanding the victim's decision to reject medical treatment," Levenson said. "The issue is who caused her death -- her son or her decision not to have the blood transfusion."
But Levenson said prosecutors are wise to proceed cautiously, noting that jurors can be unpredictable.
Ferenz, 63, was stabbed in the chest and arm with a household knife. She was taken to a Greenwich hospital and later to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, where she died on New Year's Day.
"She looked the doctor in the eye and said, 'No transfusion, no blood,"' said her husband, retired mail carrier Andrew Ferenz.
Ferenz said his son has been on medication for 25 years.
"When he does go off of it, he can't control himself," Ferenz said. "This is the only time he got violent."
Ferenz said "no way" should his son be charged with homicide. "He doesn't know what he's doing," Ferenz said. "He needs help."
Police had been called to the Ferenz's house many times. Stephen Ferenz suffers from manic depression, Bernardi said.
Ferenz's public defender declined to comment.
Church officials said it was Carol Ferenz's decision not to accept a transfusion. "The family called us for comfort and encouragement," said Jonathan Saxon, a church spokesman. "She did not ask us for a blood transfusion."
Saxon said church members accept alternatives to transfusions.
For example, the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at Hartford Hospital employs aggressive steps to stop bleeding, liquid solutions to replace lost blood, and medications to speed the build-up of blood, said the center's coordinator, Suzanne Russell.
The family lives in a neighborhood of modest homes in this mostly wealthy suburb of New York City. In addition to caring for her son, Ferenz opened her home to others for weekly Bible study discussions, said Fred Kida, a friend and fellow church member.
"She loved her God Jehovah," Kida said. "She showed this by her speech, her actions, keeping her integrity to the very end."
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