The People of the State of New York, Plaintiffs in Error v. Thomas Bennett, Defendant in Error

Summary

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Supreme Court's reversal of the manslaughter conviction and the grant of a new trial, holding that a writ of error lies from such a judgment, that the trial court lacked authority to discharge the prisoner on a corpus delicti ground, that corpus delicti requires direct proof of either death or criminal agency (with the other element permissible by circumstantial evidence), and that a jury charge suggesting an unsupported motive is error.