California Supreme Court, 1889

People v. O'Neil

People v. O'Neil
California Supreme Court · Decided March 14, 1889
78 Cal. 388; 20 P. 705; 1889 Cal. LEXIS 603

People v. O'Neil

Opinion of the Court

The Court.

Appellant was tried upon an information which alleged that he feloniously, unlawfully, and with malice aforethought, killed and murdered one Philip Stump. The jury returned a verdict in these words: “We, the jury, decide the defendant, John H. O’Neil, guilty as charged, the penalty to be imprisonment for life.” The code provides that “ whenever a crime is distinguished into degrees, the jury, if they convict the defendant, must find the degree of the crime of which he is guilty.” It has been uniformly held that a failure *389to specify the degree of murder under that section vitiates the verdict. (People v. Campbell, 40 Cal. 129.)

The attorney-general confesses error.

Judgment and order reversed, and cause remanded, for a new trial.

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