Opinion ID: 1577090
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Heading: Cross-Examination of Defendant about Prior Conviction.

Text: Trial court overruled defendant's pretrial limine motion that sought to preclude State's inquiry regarding his 1973 felony conviction of marijuana delivery. See Iowa Code §§ 204.401(1)(a), 687.2 (1973). The court reasoned the crime involved a question of dishonesty. It overruled defense objections of irrelevance and improper cross-examination. Defendant admitted he had been convicted of a felony. Defendant argues trial court erred in permitting this cross-examination because delivery of marijuana does not involve indicia of deceit, fraud, cheating, or stealing. Consequently, he contends, the conviction does not adversely affect his honesty and integrity. Iowa Code section 622.17 provides: A witness may be interrogated as to his previous conviction for a felony. No other proof is competent, except the record thereof. We have interpreted section 622.17 as granting Iowa trial courts discretion to admit evidence of prior felony convictions to impeach a criminal defendant, if the prior conviction involved dishonesty or false statement, and the trial court determines the danger of unfair prejudice does not substantially outweigh the conviction's probative value. State v. Conner, 241 N.W.2d 447, 454 (Iowa 1976); State v. Miller, 229 N.W.2d 762, 769 (Iowa 1975); State v. Martin, 217 N.W.2d 536, 542 (Iowa 1974). The purpose of admission is not to show the defendant is a bad person, but only to show facts bearing on the question whether the fact finder should believe the testimony. State v. Martin, 217 N.W.2d at 540. We have distinguished between acts of deceit, fraud, cheating, or stealing, which in common human experience reflect adversely on honesty and integrity, and acts of violence, which are less likely to do so. State v. Miller, 229 N.W.2d at 769; State v. Martin, 217 N.W.2d at 540-41. Crimes probative of honesty and integrity include perjury, State v. Jones, 271 N.W.2d 761, 766 (Iowa 1978), and felonies involving theft, State v. Conner, 241 N.W.2d at 455. We have found the crime of manslaughter inadmissible for purposes of impeachment. State v. Brewer, 247 N.W.2d 205, 213 (Iowa 1976). We have yet to determine whether a violation of our Uniform Controlled Substances Act is a crime probative of veracity. In State v. Martin, 217 N.W.2d at 541, we quoted with approval the following language: A rule of thumb . . . should be that convictions which rest on dishonest conduct relate to credibility whereas those of violent or assaultive crimes generally do not; traffic violations, however serious, are in the same category. Gordon v. United States, 383 F.2d 936, 940 (D.C.Cir.1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 1029, 88 S.Ct. 1421, 20 L.Ed.2d 287 (1968). [1] As to the related issue of relevancy, we observed only such instances as tend to show a lack of truthfulness or disposition [to lie] for example, forgery, cheating and the like are relevant and material. State v. Martin, 217 N.W.2d at 542 (emphasis added). Our prior cases applying the first prong of Martin, dishonesty or false statement, involved crimes that encompass deceit, fraud, cheating, or stealing in an elemental sense. See Iowa Code §§ 720.2 (1981) (perjury requires knowing false statement of material fact or false denial of knowledge), 714.1(1) (intent to deprive another as element of theft), 714.1(2) (misappropriation), 714.1(3) (deception), 714.1(5) (intent to defraud). In contrast, the delivery of marijuana offense is defined as follows: [I]t is unlawful for any person to . . . deliver . . . a controlled substance. Iowa Code § 204.401(1) (1981). [2] This definition incorporates no deceit, fraud, cheating, or stealing as delineated in Martin. Absent direct involvement of one or more of these elements in the offense, the conviction is inadmissible for purposes of impeachment. United States v. Lewis, 626 F.2d 940, 946 (D.C.Cir.1980); United States v. Millings, 535 F.2d 121, 123 (D.C.Cir.1976); see State v. Brewer, 247 N.W.2d at 213. Our view that narcotic offenses do not meet the Martin requirements (dishonesty or false statement) finds support in other jurisdictions. United States v. Lewis, 626 F.2d at 946 (distributing heroin); United States v. McLister, 608 F.2d 785, 789 (9th Cir.1979) (marijuana possession); United States v. Hastings, 577 F.2d 38, 41 (8th Cir.1978) (absent specific underlying facts of dishonesty, narcotic conviction not admissible); United States v. Millings, 535 F.2d at 123-24; 3 J. Weinstein & A. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence ¶ 609[04], at 609-74 (1981). These cases are bottomed on the finding that mere use or trafficking in drugs, without more, does not involve indicia of deceit, fraud, or dishonesty reflecting adversely on a person's veracity. United States v. Millings, 535 F.2d at 123; Hatchett v. State, 552 S.W.2d 414, 415 (Tenn.Crim. App.), cert. denied, 552 S.W.2d 414 (Tenn. 1977); see United States v. Hastings, 577 F.2d at 41 (unless particular conviction rests on facts showing dishonesty or false statement); United States v. Hayes, 553 F.2d 824, 827 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 867, 98 S.Ct. 204, 54 L.Ed.2d 143 (1977) (something more than basic conviction is required). Although several courts have held narcotic convictions admissible for purposes of impeachment, they typically do not examine the impact on veracity at any length, if at all. See People v. Von Latta, 258 Cal. App.2d 329, 336, 65 Cal.Rptr. 651, 655 (1968); Smith v. State, 6 Md.App. 581, 588-89, 252 A.2d 277, 281 (1969); People v. Douglas, 52 Mich.App. 224, 228, 216 N.W.2d 920, 922 (1974); State v. Knight, 295 N.W.2d 592, 594 (Minn.1980); State v. Smith, 12 Or.App. 112, 117, 504 P.2d 1072, 1074 (1972). When the veracity issue is analyzed, admissibility generally is predicated on the rationale that the offense indicates a disregard for legal duties and societal interests in favor of individual interests, and suggests a propensity to do so on the stand as well. See People v. Nelson, 31 Ill.App.3d 934, 938, 335 N.E.2d 79, 83 (1975), overruled in People v. Siebert, 72 Ill.App.3d 895, 28 Ill.Dec. 732, 390 N.E.2d 1322 (1979); People v. Duffy, 36 N.Y.2d 258, 262, 326 N.E.2d 804, 806-07, 367 N.Y.S.2d 236, 240, cert. denied, 423 U.S. 861, 96 S.Ct. 116, 46 L.Ed.2d 88 (1975). The State advances an analogous argument when it suggests the gist of the . . . offense is the assumption of a position which, under the law, the defendant knows he has no right to assume, thus encompassing elements of dishonesty and false statement. Accepting this theory, however, would preclude any principled differentiation among crimes of varying impact on witness veracity. Under the rule the State advocates felony traffic offenses or violence offenses, along with virtually every other felony offense, would be admissible for impeachment purposes. Cf. State v. Martin, 217 N.W.2d at 541 (violence, assaultive crimes and traffic offenses, however serious, generally do not affect credibility). The State further relies on a federal court interpretation of Federal Rule of Evidence 609(a), which placed various crimes on a continuum with respect to their effect on credibility. Narcotic offenses were placed in a middle ground between offenses clearly probative of veracity, and crimes such as larceny and robbery, which the State notes are not encompassed by the federal rule. See United States v. Hayes, 553 F.2d at 827-28. The State argues by analogy that because we have found crimes such as larceny and burglary admissible for purposes of impeachment, the narcotic offenses placed in the middle of the continuum by the Hayes court are, a fortiori, admissible under the Iowa standard. The State's theory, however, rests on a shaky foundation. Federal courts are split on the admissibility of larcenous crimes for purposes of impeachment. E.g., United States v. Fearwell, 595 F.2d 771, 776 (D.C.Cir.1978) (petit larceny not admissible); United States v. Donoho, 575 F.2d 718, 721 (9th Cir.) (petty theft admissible), vacated on other grounds, 439 U.S. 811, 99 S.Ct. 68, 58 L.Ed.2d 102 (1978); United States v. Smith, 551 F.2d 348, 369 (D.C.Cir.1976) (robbery not automatically admissible); United States v. Wilson, 536 F.2d 883, 885 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 982, 97 S.Ct. 497, 50 L.Ed.2d 592 (1976) (attempted robbery reflects adversely on honesty); United States v. Ashley, 569 F.2d 975 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 853, 99 S.Ct. 163, 58 L.Ed.2d 159 (1978); 3 J. Weinstein & A. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence ¶ 609[04], at 509-73 (1981). Several federal courts have refused to admit narcotic offenses for impeachment purposes under Federal Rule of Evidence 609(a). See United States v. Lewis, 626 F.2d at 946; United States v. McLister, 608 F.2d at 789; United States v. Millings, 535 F.2d at 123-24. Moreover, federal courts that admit such offenses for impeachment purposes generally do so only upon a preliminary showing by the government that the specific facts of the prior offense involved conduct reflecting dishonesty or false statement. See United States v. Hastings, 577 F.2d at 41; United States v. Hayes, 553 F.2d at 827. Federal courts' inability to reach a consensus on admissibility of either larcenous or narcotic offenses casts doubt on the viability of the continuum constructed by the court in Hayes. Further, that court posited admissibility on a showing of something more than the narcotic offense itself. Thus Hayes inferentially supports our finding that the narcotic offense at issue here is not admissible on the issue of defendant's veracity. The State contends a Hayes-type scrutiny of the details of the prior crime must be made, and asserts in this case defendant failed to carry his burden to show that his felony conviction did not involve false statement or dishonesty. There are numerous ways, State argues, that a narcotic offense could involve dishonesty or false statement. We reject this rule for two reasons. First, the underlying facts approach adopted in Hayes, requiring trial court to interrupt proceedings and hear argument on the specific circumstances of a prior conviction, runs counter to the principle that evidentiary rules should be convenient, predictable, and mechanically applicable. 3 J. Weinstein & A. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence ¶ 609[04], at 609-75 (1981); see United States v. Lewis, 626 F.2d at 946 (manner of commission is not the test). Second, although we have placed the burden of showing that a prior felony conviction does not involve dishonesty or false statement on defendant, see State v. Lyles, 225 N.W.2d 124, 127 (Iowa 1974), we have never extended that burden to encompass specific facts of the prior crime. Under our current standard, the burden extends only to argument regarding the effect of the offense in its abstract, generic sense. See id. (nature of the prior felony); State v. Fields, 223 N.W.2d 197, 198 (Iowa 1975) (showing what crimes were involved). We find no compelling reason to discard our present rule for one that would spin off satellite minitrials delving into contested details surrounding a prior crime. Thus we hold trial court erred in allowing impeachment based on the felonious delivery of marijuana. Moreover, we cannot characterize this error as nonprejudicial. Defendant's credibility was crucial to the success of his defense that the victim consented to the acts comprising the alleged offense. Because we are required to reverse on this issue, we treat the remaining issues only to the extent required for retrial purposes.