Opinion ID: 1391736
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Admissibility of Witness' Prior Federal Conviction

Text: (25) Defendant contends that the trial court erred in excluding for impeachment purposes a prior 1975 robbery conviction of Mikles in a federal youthful offender proceeding. The basis for the trial court's ruling was that under California law a juvenile court adjudication is not considered an impeaching conviction. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 203; see In re Ricky B. (1978) 82 Cal. App.3d 106, 114 [146 Cal. Rptr. 828].) Defendant urges that under federal law, a prior juvenile adjudication may be admissible for purposes of attacking a witness' credibility if a conviction of that offense by an adult would be similarly admissible and the court is satisfied that admission thereof is necessary for a fair determination of the issue of guilt or innocence. (Fed. Rules Evid., rule 609(d).) We need not determine, however, the applicability of the federal rule to a state court proceeding, for it is readily apparent from the record that defendant was not substantially impeded in his impeachment efforts by the challenged trial court ruling. Defendant was permitted to disclose to the jury the fact that Mikles had suffered a 1977 robbery conviction in state court, and further that he had been convicted of, and was awaiting sentence on, four additional robbery counts. Quite clearly, proof of the federal adjudication would have added nothing significant to the force of the impeachment evidence against Mikles which already had been adduced by defendant.