Opinion ID: 2294886
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appellant's Prior Convictions

Text: During appellant's cross-examination, the government introduced the fact that appellant had previously been convicted for possessing an unregistered firearm, assault on a police officer, escape, and bail jumping. Immediately following introduction of the first prior conviction, the trial court gave a cautionary instruction on the limited purpose for which the prior conviction was admitted. The court gave an abbreviated version of the same instruction after introduction of the other convictions. It did not, however, give an instruction to this effect during its final charge to the jury. Appellant observes, correctly, that where appropriate, a trial court is ordinarily required to give a strong, unambiguous instruction on the use of prior convictions in its final charge to the jury. See Dixon v. United States, D.C.App., 287 A.2d 89, cert. denied, 407 U.S. 926, 92 S.Ct. 2474, 32 L.Ed.2d 813 (1972). Here, contemporaneous with the introduction of appellant's prior convictions, the jury was instructed on the limited purpose for which the convictions were to be considered. In addition, in its final charge to the jury, the trial court instructed, in essence, that a witness' prior convictions were to bear only on the credibility that the jury may attach to the witness' testimony. In light of the earlier, immediate cautioning instruction, we think it reasonable to infer that the jury included appellant among the witnesses referred to in this final charge, and we hold that the trial court's failure to instruct more specifically does not rise to the level of plain error.