35 Ga. App. 235 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1926
The plaintiff in error was charged with manufacturing whisky, and the jury returned the following verdict: “We, the jury, find the defendant guilty [and] ask [the] mercy of the court.” Thereupon the accused was given a misdemeanor sentence. At the same term of the court he presented a motion to arrest the judgment, based upon the allegation that the verdict was not a legal one, under the indeterminate-sentence statute, in that no minimum and maximum penalty was fixed by the verdict. The motion was overruled and the defendant excepted. Held: The verdict was not in proper form, and the judge should have sent the jury back to their room with instructions to fix a minimum and maximum penalty. Mitchell v. State, 34 Ga. App. 505 (130 S. E. 355). However, as the judge followed the recommendation of the jury and imposed a misdemeanor sentence, the defendant has no cause to complain, and the refusal to arrest the judgment was not error.
Judgment affirmed.