California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Lee, 20 Cal.4th 47, 82 Cal.Rptr.2d 625, 971 P.2d 1001 (Cal. 1999):
For it is simply not the case that defendant is guilty of first or even second degree murder "according to undisputed evidence." (People v. Powell, supra, 34 Cal.2d at p. 206, 208 P.2d 974.) The evidence was, manifestly, disputed and disputable. The plurality do not claim otherwise.
Neither is it the case that defendant is guilty of first or even second degree murder "according to that view of the evidence which, it indisputably [20 Cal.4th 76] appears, the trier of fact accepted." (People v. Powell, supra, 34 Cal.2d at p. 206, 208 P.2d 974.) The plurality claim otherwise. I should not have to emphasize this fact, but evidently I must: The jury returned a verdict finding defendant not guilty of first degree murder. It also returned a verdict finding him not guilty of second degree murder. It thereby showed "indisputably" that the "view of the evidence" that it "accepted" prevented it from finding him guilty of either offense.
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