Originally Posted by
GlassHat
No. Like I said, Mary Winkler was charged with first degree murder, but they ultimately found her guilty of a lesser charge. During the trial the court can instruct the jury to find guilty of a lesser charge if they feel the current charge won't hold.
This is from wiki;
In criminal jury trials, the court is permitted (but not required) to instruct jurors that they can find the defendant guilty of the most serious crime charged, or of a lesser included offense of that crime (in English law, this is termed an alternative verdict). In murder cases, however, where a convicted defendant may face capital punishment, the United States Supreme Court has held that the court must instruct the jury that they may find the defendant guilty of a lesser included offense such as voluntary manslaughter.[1] The reasoning for this ruling is that jurors, given the options of convicting a less culpable killer or letting him go free, might opt to convict of a more serious crime than the facts warrant. Therefore, they must have at least one option that falls in between these extremes.