White v. State.

MERRILL, Justice.

James White was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death by electrocution. His appeal here is under the automatic appeal statute. Code of 1940, Title 15, § 382 (1) et seq. He was charged in separate counts with killing Robert Cockrell by striking him with an iron pipe or with a blunt instrument.

A discussion of the evidence would serve no useful purpose since we have reached the conclusion that the case must be retried. ' ’

The pivotal question is whether the trial court erred in not allowing the defendant to take the stand before his writ-’ ten confession…