Lovett v. State

Citations

• 33 Fla. 389

Syllabus

<p>;1. Where a judgment entered upon a verdict of guilty as charged in the indictment on a trial since the Revised Statutes went into effect of an indictment for murder, has been reversed by this court on writ of error because the verdict did not ascer- ^ tain the degree of the crime, and a new trial awarded, the accused can be tried again upon the same indictment, and such second trial will not put him in jeopardy a second time for the same offense, within the meaning of the Constitution.</p> <p>:3. The accused was indicted, tried and convicted of murder in the first degree before the Revised Statutes went into effect. The judgment entered on this conviction was, upon writ of error to this court, reversed; and upon a second trial on the same-indictment, after the Revised Statutes took effect, a motion ' was made to quash the indictment on the grounds that by the said statutes the constituent elements of the offense charged, had been changed in this, that the degrees in manslaughter embraced in said offense have been done away with, and that the accused was thereby deprived of rights and benefits secured to him under the law as it existed when the offense was committed; and also that by said statutes the number of peremptory challenges allowed the accused under the former law had been cut down, and the number of such challenges permitted to the State had been inceased, to the detriment of the accused. This motion was overruled: Held, that the ruling was correct, and that upon the indictment the accused stood for trial under the law in force when the offense was committed, so far as the essential elements of the crime itself are concerned,, and that the subsequent law made no changes in this respect, as to the offense with which the accused was charged; that as. to the changes in reference to the number of peremptory challenges, they relate to the remedy and afford no ground for-quashing the indictment.</p> <p>3. Where a motion in arrest of judgment has been overrule