State v. Lewis

The judgment of the .court was pronounced by

Kins, J.

The slave, Lewis, was convicted of murder by a court organized «nder the act of 1846, (Acts, p. 114,) and sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor in the penitentiary for twenty years. After an ineffectual effort to obtain .a new trial, an application was made to the district judge for a habeas corpus, on the ground that the prisoner was detained in virtue of an illegal sentence. The writ was refused, and the defendant has appealed.

It is contended that the 7th section of the act of 1843, (Acts, p. 92,) which authorizes the jury, in cases…