Opinion ID: 1499899
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Juvenile Record

Text: The wife of the appellant testified first for the state and was then called as a defense witness, whereupon she was asked if she were aware of the appellant's ever having been convicted of a crime. She answered no. Before cross examination, counsel approached the bench, and the prosecutor told the court he planned to ask whether the witness knew the appellant had been sent to the training school for burglary when he was fourteen or fifteen years of age. The appellant's counsel objected, contending he had not opened the character of the appellant to cross examination and that juvenile offenses are off limits. The court ruled that the defense had inquired as to the appellant's character and that a general question about the incident would be proper. The prosecutor asked if the witness knew that as a juvenile the appellant was convicted and sent to Boys' Training School. She replied yes. Uniform Rule of Evidence 609(d) precludes use of a juvenile adjudication to attack the credibility of a witness. The appellant concedes that rule does not apply here, as it applies only when the witness is being examined about his own prior convictions rather than those of the accused. Uniform Rule of Evidence 609(a); Reel v. State, 288 Ark. 189, 702 S.W.2d 809 (1986). Rule 405(a) deals with methods of proving character. It says that on cross examination a character witness may be asked about relevant specific instances of conduct. We pointed out in Reel v. State, supra , that if a witness does not know about a specific instance her credibility suffers. If she knows but disregards it, that may go to the weight to be given the character witness's opinion of the accused. We also noted we would not, by analogy, import a limitation appearing in Rule 609 into Rule 405. We held that by producing a character witness the appellant had opened the door to evidence which might otherwise have been inadmissible. While the facts before us now are different, the principle we enunciated in Reel v. State, supra , applies. The witness gave no opinion as to the character of the appellant, but she was asked if she knew of his having ever been convicted of a crime. The only purpose that question could have had was to show the appellant was a person not disposed to commit crimes. She was thus a character witness. The door was open. The appellant's argument is essentially that with respect to juvenile adjudications the door is never open because of Ark.Stat. Ann. § 45-444 (Repl.1977) which provides: