The PEOPLE v. Ballinger

The defendant, Jesse Ballinger, was tried in the criminal court of Cook County before the court without a jury and found guilty of murder, for which he was sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of 35 years. The case is before us on a writ of error.

The only eyewitness to the offense was Alfred Howard, a nine-year-old boy, and the defendant’s first contention is that the witness was not competent to testify. The well-established rule is that it is not age but the degree of intelligence of a child which determines the question of his competency to testify, and if the witness is sufficiently…