Schamroth v. State

(After stating the foregoing facts.) The first, second and fourth grounds of the amended motion for a new trial will be considered together, as they deal with the right of the court to examine the witnesses for competency in the presence of the jury, and of his charge on this question. Barbara Ann, the State’s chief witness, was ten years old and in the fifth grade of school. At the request of the solicitor-general that the court examine her upon her qualifications as a witness the court elicited this information, together with a statement as to her Sunday School and church attendance and the…