Smiley v. Commonwealth

Opinion op the Court by

Judge Rees

Reversing.

William Smiley, also known as William Osborne, shot and killed Joe Deskins, a boy about 13 years of age, on July 7, 1929. He was convicted of the crime of willful murder and his punishment fixed at death. On this appeal he seeks a reversal on the following grounds: (1) The verdict is flagrantly against the evidence; (2) the trial court erred in refusing to grant him a continuance because of lack of time for his attorneys to prepare the defense and because of illness of one of the two attorneys employed to defend him; (3) irregularity in the selection…