Opinion ID: 1738279
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: whether the trial court erred in granting the state's motion in limine to exclude any evidence of sheriff john allen jones's criminal conviction.

Text: ¶ 59. Weeks contends that the trial judge abused her discretion and erred in granting a motion in limine to exclude evidence of a past criminal conviction of the witness, Sheriff Jones. Weeks asserts that Sheriff Jones had two prior convictions punishable by imprisonment in excess of one year involving dishonesty or false statements. This Court concludes that the issue is procedurally barred for lack of a specific and timely objection at trial and the contention is without merit. ¶ 60. The State presented a motion in limine to exclude questions concerning Sheriff Jones's prior convictions based on the age of the prior convictions. The trial judge granted the State's motion in limine without comment. At this time, the defense made no initial objection. Prior to Sheriff Jones's testimony, a bench conference occurred in which defense counsel contended that M.R.E. 609 allowed exceptions. A discussion ensued in which the State claimed that no written notice was received from the defense to use the testimony. The trial judge again granted the motion without comment. Defense counsel's only response was to request the proffering of the information at a later time. ¶ 61. The defense did not state a specific objection at the pretrial motion hearing pertaining to this assertion. The defense only referenced an exception. In addition, defense did not raise this assertion during the trial. As previously noted, this Court held in Oates v. State, 421 So.2d at 1030, that in order to preserve a question for appellate review, [o]bjections to the admissibility of evidence must specifically state the grounds, otherwise the objection is waived. In addition, this Court held that [i]f no contemporaneous objection is made, the error, if any, is waived. Walker v. State, 671 So.2d at 597 (citing Foster v. State, 639 So.2d at 1270). Applying the law to the case sub judice, Weeks is procedurally barred on this issue for lack of a specific objection during the pretrial motion hearing and lack of a timely objection at trial. ¶ 62. Procedural bar and waiver aside, this Court held in Wilcher v. State, 697 So.2d 1087, 1102 (Miss.1997), that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by excluding a sheriff's seven-year-old prior extortion conviction. In Wilcher, the admissibility of the sheriffs conviction was within the trial judge's discretion, depending on whether he found that the probative value of the conviction outweighed the prejudicial effect of its admission. Id. at 1103. In the case sub judice, the trial judge had the discretion as to the admissibility of this evidence, and there was no abuse of discretion. ¶ 63. Furthermore, M.R.E. 609(b) clearly states that in order for evidence of a prior conviction that is more than ten years old, as calculated in the rule, to be admissible, the proponent must give the opposing party advanced written notice. Weeks did not provide the written notice in this case; and therefore, the objection is waived. In addition, the record excerpts only show the date that the sheriff was to begin his confinement, which was more than ten years prior to the trial date. The excerpts lack an actual date of release from detention, and there is no verification of anything other than the conviction and the initial date the sheriff was confined. Therefore, under Rule 609, the conviction was not admissible because it was over ten years old at the time of trial.