State v. Winkle

CROCKETT, Justice:

The principal error complained of on this appeal was the failure of the trial court to submit to the jury and allow them to consider the issue of leniency under the then applicable statute, Section 76-30-4, U.C.A.1953:

Every person guilty of murder in the first degree shall suffer death, or, upon the recommendation of the jury, may be imprisoned at hard labor in the state prison for life, in the discretion of the court.

It was the failure to allow the jury to consider a recommendation of life imprisonment that persuaded the majority of this court (one justice dissenting) to…