Hearn v. State

Griffin Smith, Chief Justice.

Hearn has appealed from a judgment that he serve five years in prison. The verdict found the defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter ; hut, following supplementary instructions given the second day after the jury’s deliberations began, that body (as the law permits) did not designate the prison term. The Court supplied the deficiency.

Observing the jury’s seeming difficulty in reaching its verdict, the Judge said:

“Gentlemen, it is dinner time! How do you stand?” Answer by a juror: “Ten and two”. The Judge: “Ten for guilty of some degree of homicide and two for…