State v. Howard

The defendant bases his appeal from the judgment below principally upon three grounds: 1. He assigns error in the ruling of the court in permitting C. W. Sneed to testify as a witness against him. According to the record Sneed had entered a plea of guilty to an indictment for embezzlement at a previous term of court, but had not been sentenced. The defendant cites S. v. Bruner, 65 N. C., 499, and S. v. Owen, 65 N. C., 464, in support of his position that Sneed was not a competent witness against him. The common law disqualification of a defendant in a criminal action frdm testifying in his…