Payne v. State

This appeal is from a judgment sentencing appellant to the penitentiary for the term of his natural life for the alleged killing of Fred Brandon. Only two assignments of error are argued for the reversal of the judgment, the first being that a child was erroneously permitted to testify on behalf of the State, and the second, that the court erred in refusing to give instruction number 2, requested by appellant.

No witness testified that he saw the killing, and the State relied entirely upon circumstantial evidence to secure the conviction. Two small boys, one Levi Phillips, who was seven years…