Court Opinion

ID: 9753214
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:03:54.46696+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:42:33.033045
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Pomeroy,
in his dissent, has focused on
the denial of equal protection and the basic weakness in the rule which the majority here again reiterates. I believe we should not let this case pass without correction.
Secondly, it is of course unarguable that voluntary manslaughter is a lesser included offense in an indictment for murder. The jury should be so instructed. Furthermore, the jury should be advised that a verdict of voluntary manslaughter is one of the verdicts returnable under a murder indictment. The failure to do so obviously creates many potentials for incomplete, unfair, and unequal considerations in the deliberations of the jury and the verdict and treatment accorded the accused.