Opinion ID: 561844
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Impeachment with Prior Convictions.

Text: 12 Gaylon Mitchell testified at the trial, and over the Mitchells' objection, the district court allowed the government to impeach him with four prior felony drug convictions. All four convictions were entered pursuant to pleas of nolo contendere. The Mitchells now contend that the admission of the prior convictions was reversible error. 13 Before the adoption of the Federal Rules of Evidence, it was the rule in this circuit that convictions based on nolo contendere pleas were inadmissible for impeachment purposes. Piassick v. United States, 253 F.2d 658 (5th Cir.1958); Mickler v. Fahs, 243 F.2d 515 (5th Cir.1957). The drafters of the Federal Rules considered an exception to Fed.R.Evid. 609 that would have expressly prohibited impeachment with pleas of nolo contendere. However, this exception was deleted from the final draft. See 3 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence Sec. 609 (1990). Thus, the legislative history of Fed.R.Evid. 609 clearly argues in favor of the district court's ruling in this case. 14 Piassick and Mickler, cited by the Mitchells, are therefore not controlling because they were decided before the adoption of the Federal Rules. The Mitchells also rely on a third case, United States v. Morrow, 537 F.2d 120 (5th Cir.1976). But Morrow involved the introduction of a conviction based on a nolo contendere plea as substantive evidence of intent, presumably under Fed.R.Evid. 404(b), and not for impeachment purposes under Fed.R.Evid. 609. Thus, to the extent that Morrow implied that Piassick and Mickler survived the adoption of the Federal Rules, the suggestion was dicta only. 2 United States v. Williams, 642 F.2d 136 (5th Cir.1981), by contrast, expressly upheld the admission of a conviction based on a nolo contendere plea for impeachment purposes under Fed.R.Evid. 609. 15 The Mitchells attempt to distinguish Williams because the prior conviction in that case was unrelated to the case at bar. However, this court expressly rejected such a distinction in Piassick: 16 [A nolo contendere plea] is, to be sure, a tacit confession of guilt, but solely for the purpose of the case in which it is entered. If it cannot be used in another case based on the same facts it would seem to follow, a fortiori, that it could not be used to collateral purposes in a case founded upon unrelated facts. 17 Piassick, 253 F.2d at 661. We therefore reject the distinction and uphold the admission of Gaylon Mitchells' four prior convictions. 18 The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.