People v. Adams

Appellant was accused by an information filed against him by the district attorney of the county of Los Angeles, .August 28, 1925, with the crime of having, on August 2, 1925, murdered Annie Adams, who was shown by the evidence to have been his wife. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of- murder of the first degree without exercising its discretion by fixing the punishment at confinement in the state prison for life. Such a verdict in homicide cases, under the law of this state, leaves the court with no discretion in the matter of fixing the punishment, as the law prescribes the penalty,…