Case Name: THE PEOPLE, Respondent, v. JOHN H. O'NEIL, Appellant
Court: Supreme Court of California
Jurisdiction: California
Decision Date: 1889-03-14
Citations: 78 Cal. 388
Docket Number: No. 20502
Parties: THE PEOPLE, Respondent, v. JOHN H. O’NEIL, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: California Reports
Volume: 78
Pages: 388–389

Head Matter:
[No. 20502.
In Bank.
March 14, 1889.]
THE PEOPLE, Respondent, v. JOHN H. O’NEIL, Appellant.
Criminal Law—Homicide — Verdict. —The failure of a verdict of “ guilty as charged,” under an information for murder, to specify the degree of murder, vitiates the verdict.
Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Contra Costa County, and from an order refusing a new trial.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.
Joseph H. Budd, James II. Budd, and II. G. Levynshy, for Appellant.
Attorney-General Johnson, for Respondent.

Opinion:
The Court.
Appellant was tried upon an information which alleged that he feloniously, unlawfully, and with malice aforethought, killed and murdered one Philip Stump. The jury returned a verdict in these words: "We, the jury, decide the defendant, John H. O'Neil, guilty as charged, the penalty to be imprisonment for life." The code provides that " whenever a crime is distinguished into degrees, the jury, if they convict the defendant, must find the degree of the crime of which he is guilty." It has been uniformly held that a failure to specify the degree of murder under that section vitiates the verdict. (People v. Campbell, 40 Cal. 129.)
The attorney-general confesses error.
Judgment and order reversed, and cause remanded, for a new trial.