Opinion ID: 423956
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: love's prior convictions

Text: 52 The principal government witness in this case was Howard Love. Love was the sole conspirator to enter a guilty plea; in exchange for the plea the prosecution agreed to make no specific sentencing recommendation and to make the extent of Love's cooperation known to the sentencing judge. Because of the importance to the prosecution of Love's testimony, impeaching Love's credibility was of critical importance to the defendants. Thus, defendants sought to introduce all of Love's prior convictions; the first conviction dating back to 1948. The district court, however, disallowed introduction of Love's pre-1965 convictions. 4 Defendants now contend that the trial court erred by excluding evidence of these convictions and that the trial court failed to explain adequately the basis for its ruling. Neither of these contentions has merit. 53 Federal Rule of Evidence 609 defines when a party may use a prior conviction in order to impeach a witness. Under that rule 54 [e]vidence of a conviction ... is not admissible if a period of more than ten years has elapsed since the date of the conviction or of the release of the witness from the confinement imposed for that conviction, whichever is the later date, unless the court determines, in the interests of justice, that the probative value of the conviction supported by specific facts and circumstances substantially outweighs its prejudicial effect. 55 FED.R.EVID. 609(b) (emphasis added). Thus, Love's pre-1965 convictions were inadmissible in the absence of a finding by the district court that their probative value outweighed their prejudicial effect. 5 56 The district court properly found that the interests of justice in this case did not require admission of Love's stale convictions. As noted by the trial judge, evidence of Love's four convictions in 1965, 1971, 1978, and 1980 was sufficient to provide a record basis for defendants' argument that Love had a motive for testifying for the government. We agree with the district court that evidence of Love's earlier convictions would have been cumulative, and thus could not give rise to a claim of exceptional circumstances warranting their admission.