Washington v. State

If any text is due to be given its fair meaning, if any words require judges to confine themselves to objective meaning and refrain from searching for a more palatable subjective intent it is these: Not Guilty. The jury wrote those words, but the trial court disregarded them. We must reverse. We must direct the trial court to enter a judgment on that verdict of not guilty. I therefore respectfully dissent from the majority decision to remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings. I would remand only for retrial on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter, on which…