Show I I A Remarkable Case I A number of gentlemen were yesterday I yester-day discussing the merits of the Neal and Rankin murder and the cases possi I bility of their acquittal or conviction Parallel cases were cited in which remarkable o re-markable verdicts had been rendered i One speaker mentioned a case in Missouri Mis-souri that was certainly remarkable but I nevertheless true It was the trial ofT of-T esse Ofiield for the murder of Newton Eads The trial was in the Livingston I circuit court with Judge E A Broadus I a former Kentuckian presiding Offield was indicted for murder in the first degree I de-gree tried and the jury found that he I was guilty only in the second degree The court ruled that the verdict of mur I I der in the second degree could not be returned re-turned in a trial where the indictment was for murder in the first degree The verdict was therefore set aside and the prisoner indicted for murder in the second degree I At the succeeding of term court he was I tried under the indictment by an entirely I new jury The jury found him guilty of i I murder in the first degree The court ruled that the jury must not return a ver i diet for a greater crime than that charged in the indictment and as he had once I been tried and found not guilty of murder I in the first degree he could not be arraigned I ar-raigned for the same offense the second time therefore the jury must either return re-turn a verdict of guilty in the second degree I gree or acquittal The evidence could I not warrant a verdict in the second degree 1 de-gree and the criminal although proven guilty of murder in the first degree was set at liberty This was a remarkable case and called for some valuable amendments to the criminal laws of the Sfate It was a case where the letter of the law set at liberty a man because he was a murderer Louisville CourierJournal |