People v. Newsome

This motion by the defendants has for its purpose the nullification of the collective verdict against the defendants, tried jointly before me. The underlying reason for this move is the alleged failure of the jury to equalize, by their verdict, the guilt of each of the defendants with one another.

In other words, the defendants raise the point that the jury’s finding of guilt as to one of them on the count of manslaughter in the second degree — a count added by me to the instructions given to the jury — and the jury’s finding of guilt as to the other defendants on the count of manslaughter in…