State of Oregon v. Imlah

In this case the defendant, Donald Dwaine Imlah, was found guilty by a jury of murder in the first degree, without recommendation of life imprisonment, and was sentenced to death. He has appealed on the sole ground that the verdict was not the unanimous verdict of the jury.

There are five assignments of error, but they all raise the single question in different ways. There is no claim that the defendant was not fairly tried, or that any error of law in the admission or rejection of evidence, or in the instructions, was committed by the trial judge. Indeed, there is no claim here that the…