Payne v. Commonwealth

Opinion op the Court by

Judge Richardson

Affirming.

Effie Payne has been convicted before a jury of the crime of murder and her punishment fixed at confinement in the reformatory for life.

The instructions of the court confined the jury to the crime of murder. No instructions were given on manslaughter and self-defense. The indictment charged the crime was committed by the deceased being struck and killed “with a blunt instrument — a deadly weapon.” It is insisted instruction No. 1 is erroneous “because the question of whether the so-called club was a deadly weapon should have been submitted to…