Case Name: THE PEOPLE v. JAMES BAZA
Court: Supreme Court of California
Jurisdiction: California
Decision Date: 1879
Citations: 53 Cal. 690
Docket Number: No. 10,373
Parties: THE PEOPLE v. JAMES BAZA.
Judges: 
Reporter: California Reports
Volume: 53
Pages: 690–690

Head Matter:
[No. 10,373.]
THE PEOPLE v. JAMES BAZA.
Uncertain Verdict—Jeopardy.—In a criminal case where the indictment charges an offense that includes an offense of less degree, and the jury returns a verdict of “guilty as charged in the indictment," the verdict is so uncertain that judgment cannot he passed, and the record of the trial is not evidence of jeopardy upon a new trial under the same indictment.—[Reporter.]
Appeal from the District Court of the Second Judicial District, Butte County.
The defendant was indicted for the crime of murder, and was tried, the jury returning a verdict of “ guilty as charged in the indictment.” The defendant moved for a new trial, which was granted. At the second trial he presented the plea of former jeopardy, and in support of it offered in evidence the record of the first trial. The evidence was rejected. He was then tried and convicted of murder in the second degree. A new trial having been denied him, he appealed.
J. C. Gray, for Appellant, referred to Shepard v. People, 25 N. Y. 418.
Attorney-General Hamilton, for the People, cited People v. Marquis, 15 Cal. 38; People v. Campbell, 40 Cal. 129.

Opinion:
By the Court :
The record of the proceedings at the previous trial would not have established the former jeopardy of defendant. The evidence was, therefore, properly rejected. (State of Iowa v. Redman, 17 Iowa, 329.)
Judgment and order affirmed. Remittitur forthwith.
Neither Mr. Chief Justice Wallace nor Mr. Justice Niles expressed an opinion in this case.