Clarke v. Commonwealth

George Clarke was indicted in the Circuit Court of Botetourt county for the murder of Ned Cox. He was found guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary for seventeen and one-half years. To that judgment this writ of error was awarded.

The first assignment of error is: “The action of the trial court in refusing to quash the venire facias, because the clerk, in impaneling the jury, called the names of the prospective jurors from the sheriff’s return instead of drawing the names by lot as provided by law.”

When the case was called, both counsel for the…