Rowe v. State

The primary questions posed by this appeal arise out of the acceptance by the trial court of the jury verdict of “not guilty of murder in the first degree but guilty of murder in the second degree” on the issue of guilt or innocence despite the fact that the jury had found on the issues of sanity and insanity that the defendant was insane at the time of trial (“insane now”) in addition to also finding that he was sane at the time of the offense (“sane then”).

The defendant shot and killed Bronza M. Parks on May 13, 1958. He was indicted for murder within less than a month and pled not guilty.…