State v. Bankston

Defendant was charged with .the crime of cutting with a dangerous weapon with intent to kill and murder. He was tried, and the jury, upon his trial, returned the following written verdict, to wit:

“We, the jury, find the accused guilty of cutting with intent to kill, and ask the mercy of the court. S. T. Smart, Foreman.”

With the foregoing verdict as the basis therefor, the accused was sentenced to the penitentiary for not less than 2% nor ¡more than 3 years.

The verdict is fatally defective. The law does not denounce as a crime “cutting with intent to kill.” What it does denounce .as such…