Smith v. State

1. The accused was indicted for murder and convicted of voluntary manslaughter. Able counsel for the accused strenuously insist that the verdict is without evidence to support it; that it is a compromise; that the State’s testimony made an unmitigated case of murder and the defendant’s testimony a case of justifiable homicide. Under the defendant’s statement, the jury (especially considering the latitude they have in dealing with the defendant’s •statement) were authorized to render the verdict of voluntary manslaughter. The defendant admitted that he did the killing. The deceased had been…