State v. Jurche

Defendant was indicted for murder, convicted and sentenced.

He appealed.

On the trial of this case in the lower court, defendant asked the judge to charge the jury “that, in finding á verdict, they were the judges of the law and facts.”

This the judge refused; but charged “that they were the sole judges of the facts proved. It was their duty to apply the law as laid down by the court. That the jury had the power, but not the right, to disregard the charge of the judge. ”

The only verdict, in a criminal case, that the jury can render, under the law, is a general one : a verdict of guilty or not…