People v. Lee Yune Chong

Citations

• 94 Cal. 379
• 29 P. 776
• 1892 Cal. LEXIS 696

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Homicide—Verdict—Degree or Murder not Fixed — Discharge or Jury—Recall to Amend Verdict. — Where the jury have rendered a verdict upon a charge of murder, finding the defendant guilty, without fixing the degree of murder, and fixing the penalty at imprisonment for life, and have been discharged and have dispersed after record of their verdict, the control of the court and jury over the verdict is at an end; and a subsequent order of the court, directing them to be recalled, and setting aside previous orders discharging them and directing the verdict to be recorded, and a subsequent instruction to them to amend their verdict by fixing the degree of the crime, and a subsequent verdict rendered accordingly fixing the degree of the crime as murder in the first degree, are nullities.</p> <p>Id. — Verdict must Fix Degree. — In a prosecution for murder, the verdict of guilty must designate the degree of the crime, and if the jury find the defendant guilty and fail to find the degree of the crime, the judgment will be reversed upon appeal, and a new trial granted.</p> <p>Id.—Discharge of Defendant. — The error in failing to find the degree of the crime, in a verdict of guilty, upon the charge of murder, is not an error entitling the defendant to a discharge, any more than any other reversible error committed during the trial, and a motion of the defendant to be discharged from custody because of such error is properly denied by the trial court.</p> <p>Id. — Appeal — Power to Grant New Trial against Objection of Appellant. ■—Under section 1260 of the Penal Code, providing that the appellate court may reverse, affirm, or modify a judgment appealed from, and may, if proper, order a new trial, a new trial may be ordered in a criminal case if the judgment is reversed, even though the defendant did not move for a new trial, and denies the power of the appellate court to grant it, and asks that he be discharged.</p> <p>Id. —Jeopardy. — The question of jeopardy can