Opinion ID: 2083109
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Was the verdict guilty as indicted a nullity?

Text: Defendant's contention is that the verdict did not ascertain the degree of murder in accordance with the statute. This contention was not made below, but we consider it on its merits. Section 5160 of the Revised Code of Delaware, 1935, requires that the jury, upon the trial of an indictment for murder, if they find the defendant guilty, shall inquire, and by their verdict ascertain whether he be guilty of murder of the first or second degree. The defendant was indicted for murder in the first degree. The verdict was taken in the manner established in this State by long usage, as follows: The Clerk: How say you, Madam Foreman, do you find John H. Bantum, the prisoner at the bar, guilty in manner and form as he stands indicted or not guilty? The Foreman: We find him guilty as indicted. The Clerk: Hearken to your verdict as the Court has recorded it, your Foreman says you find John H. Bantum, the defendant, guilty in manner and form as he stands indicted, so say you. On demand of the defendant's counsel the jury was then polled, each juror answering that that was his verdict. We think that the verdict did ascertain the degree of murder to be murder in the first degree. The applicable statute, Rev. Code 1935, Sec. 5317, requires the different degrees of murder to be distinguished in indictments, and the indictment in this case charged the defendant, in terms, with express malice aforethought and murder in the first degree. The verdict guilty as indicted was therefore a verdict that the defendant was guilty of murder in the first degree and satisfied the statute. See Johnson v. Commonwealth, 24 Pa. 386, and cases cited. We think this contention without substance.