People v. Manning

The inability of jurors to unanimously agree upon whether a mitigating factor exists, for purposes of 2nd degree murder, results in a finding of 1st degree murder, as charged, and as necessarily found by the jury in the required statutory progression. A defendant's failure to sustain his burden of convincing all 12 jurors that a mitigating factor exists for purposes of 2nd degree murder does not nullify the jurors' unanimous finding that State has proven Defendant guilty of 1st degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt. (FREEMAN, THOMAS, KILBRIDE, GARMAN, BURKE, and THEIS, concurring.)