Title: State v. Ross

State: minnesota

Issuer: Minnesota Supreme Court

Document:

491 N.W.2d 658 (1992) STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Justin Nicholas ROSS, Appellant. No. CX-91-2365. Supreme Court of Minnesota. October 30, 1992. John M. Stuart, State Public Defender, Mark F. Anderson, Asst. State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant. Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., Tom Foley, Ramsey County Atty., Darrell C. Hill, Asst. Ramsey County Atty, St. Paul, for respondent. Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument. GARDEBRING, Justice. In its unpublished decision in this case, the court of appeals affirmed defendant's conviction of aggravated robbery over his contentions that the evidence identifying him as the offender was legally insufficient and that he was deprived of a fair trial. The latter argument concerned the trial court's ruling that if defendant elected to testify, his credibility could be impeached *659 by his prior conviction for burglary. The court of appeals, as it had on earlier occasions,[1] ruled that burglary is a crime involving "dishonesty or false statement" and therefore, under Minn.R.Evid. 609(a)(2), automatically admissible for impeachment purposes.[2] The difficulty in determining whether a particular crime falls under Minn.R.Evid. 609(a)(2) lies not in just the type of crime committed, but also in the manner in which the crime is carried out. We consider Judge Posner's analysis in Altobello v. Borden Confectionary Products, Inc., very instructive in delineating this distinction as well as for exploring the rationale for Fed.R.Evid. 609(a)(2) exception for "crimes that involve dishonesty or false statement." Posner writes: Altobello v. Borden Confectionary Products, Inc., 872 F.2d 215, 216-17 (7th Cir. 1989) (emphasis added). If we hold that burglary is not a crime directly involving "dishonesty or false statement," it does not mean that the trial court erred in ruling the burglary conviction could be used to impeach petitioner if defendant testified, nor does it mean that prior convictions for burglary generally may not be used to impeach a witness' credibility. Burglary convictions, like those for other offenses not directly involving "dishonesty or false statement" (e.g., robbery), may properly be admitted for impeachment purposes in appropriate cases under the balancing test of Rule 609(a)(1).[3] *660 However, we must agree with defendant's limited contention[4] that burglary is not a crime directly involving "dishonesty or false statement" and thus, the court of appeals erred in holding the burglary conviction was automatically admissible for impeachment purposes if defendant testified. However, we must differ with the conclusion that, as a result of the trial court's ruling, defendant is entitled to a new trial. Initially, it is clear that the court could have admitted the conviction for impeachment purposes under the balancing approach of Rule 609(a)(1). Moreover, the trial court also admitted petitioner's two other convictions and defendant challenges neither of those rulings on appeal. Consequently, we are satisfied that any error by the trial court in its reasoning was without practical consequence to defendant and was, at most, harmless error. Affirmed as modified. [1] See Schmitz v. Stransky, 454 N.W.2d 455, 460 (Minn.App.1990), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. 1990), and Laughnan v. State, 404 N.W.2d 326, 330 (Minn.App.1987), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. 1987). [2] There are cases in other jurisdictions on both sides of the issue. For some of the federal cases, see Annot., 39 A.L.R.Fed. 570, § 15 (1978) and (Supp.1992). [3] See State v. Jones, 271 N.W.2d 534 (Minn. 1978), and the many cases following Jones in which we have given considerable deference to trial court rulings under Rule 609(a)(1). [4] In its ruling, the trial court informed defendant that if he took the stand in his defense, in addition to the burglary conviction, the court would, for impeachment purposes, allow in his convictions for issuing a worthless check and theft by check. In this appeal, defendant challenges only the trial court's ruling with respect to the burglary conviction. Accordingly, we express no opinion on the correctness of the trial court's ruling with respect to these other convictions. Compare State v. Darveaux, 318 N.W.2d 44, 48 (Minn.1982) (holding that theft by shoplifting is not a crime directly involving "dishonesty or false statement"), with State v. Norris, 428 N.W.2d 61, 71 (Minn. 1988) (holding that a conviction of theft by swindle is a crime directly involving "dishonesty or false statement").