People v. Payne

Defendant Hosea M. Payne was tried by a jury in Recorder’s Court in the City of Detroit and found guilty of armed robbery. Defendant was sentenced to serve 5 to 20 years in prison and he appeals.

At his trial, defendant took the stand in his own behalf. On cross-examination, defendant was questioned about his prior convictions for the purpose of testing his credibility. The trial judge, in his charge, instructed the jury that the evidence of the prior convictions was to be used for credibility purposes only.

Defendant contends that the only crimes that can be used to test credibility are crimes…