Opinion ID: 1882055
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether the trial court committed reversible error by allowing the State to use Fredrick Pediway's prior convictions for impeachment purposes.

Text: ¶ 25. Moore contends that the trial court erred in failing to conduct an on-the-record balancing test as set forth in Peterson v. State, 518 So.2d 632, 636 (Miss. 1987), before allowing in evidence of defense witness Fredrick Pediway's prior convictions. While this Court acknowledges that the trial court did not conduct a Peterson balancing test, this Court finds no error as any prejudice Pediway may have suffered is irrelevant. ¶ 26. Rule 609 of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence, which governs the admission of evidence of prior convictions, provides that: (a) General Rule. For the purpose of attacking the credibility of a witness, evidence that he has been convicted of a crime shall be admitted if elicited from him or established by public record during cross-examination but only if the crime (1) was punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year under the law under which he was convicted, and the court determines that the probative value of admitting this evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect on a party or (2) involved dishonesty or false statement, regardless of the punishment. (b) Time Limit. Evidence of a conviction under this rule 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. Prior to admitting such evidence, the trial court must make an on-the-record determination that the probative value of evidence of a prior conviction sought to be used for impeachment outweighs the prejudicial effect of that evidence. Peterson, 518 So.2d at 636. However, if the witness to be impeached through the admission of prior convictions is not a party, any prejudice to that non-party witness is irrelevant as a non-party can suffer no prejudice. Young v. State, 731 So.2d 1145, 1151 (Miss. 1999). In Young, this Court emphasized that, where a party is being impeached through the use of prior convictions, a Peterson -type balancing test is necessary to prevent a defendant from being convicted on the basis of a prior bad act rather than on the evidence presented at trial regarding the present crime. Young, 731 So.2d at 1150. However, when the witness being impeached is not a party, that potential problem does not exist; and therefore, even where the non-party witness being impeached is one party's primary or sole witness, evidence of a prior conviction of that witness must be admitted if the requirements of Rule 609(a) and (b) are met. Id. at 1150-51. ¶ 27. In the case sub judice, when Moore called Pediway as a witness in an attempt to discredit Andre Bully's testimony regarding Moore's alleged confession, the State advised the trial court that it planned to use Pediway's five previous felony convictions [1] for impeachment purposes. Moore then asked the trial court to perform a Peterson balancing test to which the trial court responded by stating: Under [Rule] 403 [of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence], my job is to consider the probative effect of the inquiry versus any prejudicial effect that it may have. In reviewing the crimes which are listed on the Abstract of Judgment, this witness have [sic] been convicted of attempted murder, robbery, assault with a firearm twice, and then assault with a firearm on a peace officer. Those, in my opinion, are clearly probative and they obviously are prejudicial. So when I weigh the two, I'm going to find that the probative value outweighs any prejudice and allow the inquiry; particularly, in light of the ten-year time limit that the rules committee have [sic] allowed me to consider. While I recognize that they are old, it is within the ten-year time period. ¶ 28. While the trial court did not conduct the type of full on-the-record determination contemplated by this Court in Peterson, the trial court did not commit reversible error because any prejudice Pediway suffered in being impeached is irrelevant. Pediway's prior convictions met the requirements of Rule 609(a) and (b), and thus, it was proper for the trial court to allow those convictions to be admitted. This Court finds no error in the trial court's decision to allow Pediway's prior convictions to be used for impeachment purposes.