Kennedy v. State

Indictment, containing a single count, charging murder in the first degree. Verdict, “we, the jury, do say and find that Thomas Kennedy is guilty in manner and form as he stands charged in the indictment, and that he shall be imprisoned in the state prison and kept at hard labor during life.” Motions for a new trial and in arrest were denied, and judgment given on the verdict.

An act in force when this verdict was rendered, provides, that “upon an indictment for murder in the first degree, the jury may find the defendant not guilty of the crime in the degree charged in the indictment, and may…