Smith v. Commonwealth
Court of Appeals of Kentucky
Case 23 — INDICTMENT APPEAL PROM RUSSBLI) CIRCUIT COURT. 1. Prior to the adoption of the Code of Practice, and for some time afterwards, the punishment for willful murder was death, and when the statute was amended so as to make it either death or confinement for life, it nullified the provisions of sub-section 7 of section 210 of Criminal Code with reference to questioning persons called as jurors about their conscientious opinions as to inflicting the death penalty.
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Case 23 — INDICTMENT APPEAL PROM RUSSBLI) CIRCUIT COURT. 1. Prior to the adoption of the Code of Practice, and for some time afterwards, the punishment for willful murder was death, and when the statute was amended so as to make it either death or confinement for life, it nullified the provisions of sub-section 7 of section 210 of Criminal Code with reference to questioning persons called as jurors about their conscientious opinions as to inflicting the death penalty. Under the amendment willful murder is not “punishable by death,” but only may be so punished. 2. If one called as a juror has…
1Opinion of the Court
JUDGE Du RELLE
delivered the opinion of tiie court.
The appellant iras indicted for murder and convicted of voluntar!- manslaughter.
It is urged in his behalf that the trial court permitted each juror to be asked “If he had such conscientious scruples on the subject- of capital punishment as would prevent him from finding a, verdict of guilty where the punishment was or might be death,” and, upon certain jurors replying in the affirmative, excused them from service.
Subsection 7 of section 210 of the Criminal Code provides that a juror may be challenged for implied bias, “when the offense is…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Terrell v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1877
- Morgan v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1878
- Williams v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1885
3Cited by7 opinions
- Tarrence v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) · 1953
- Miracle v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1912
- Tompkins v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1903
- Curtis v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) · 1931
- Levi v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1965
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