Opinion ID: 608959
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admissibility of the Food-Stamp Conviction

Text: 23 Having decided that Mejia properly preserved his claim, we now address the merits. We hold that the district court erred in admitting the food-stamp conviction under Federal Rule of Evidence 609(a)(2). Mejia was convicted of acquiring and possessing food coupons having a value of $500 in a manner not authorized by law. 4 He committed the crime by selling four chrome pick-up truck wheels to an undercover Department of Agriculture agent. This food-stamp conviction simply does not qualify as a crime of dishonesty or false statement under this Circuit's construction of Rule 609(a)(2). 24 Rule 609(a)(2) permits the admission of prior convictions for crimes involving dishonesty or false statement for the purpose of attacking the credibility of a witness. 5 We have narrowly defined the term dishonesty and false statement as used in Rule 609(a)(2). As we have previously noted, the adoption of Rule 609 was the culmination of a trend in judicial decisions toward restricting the use of prior convictions for impeachment purposes. United States v. Wolf, 561 F.2d 1376, 1380 (10th Cir.1977). Although it may be argued that any willful violation of the law ... evinces a lack of character and a disregard for all legal duties, including the obligations of an oath, Congress has not accepted that expansive legal theory and has 'narrowly defined' the offenses comprehended by Rule 609(a)(2). United States v. Millings, 535 F.2d 121, 123 (D.C.Cir.1976). The Conference Committee Report on the rule specified the type of crimes contemplated by the rule: 25 By the phrase dishonesty and false statement the Conference means crimes such as perjury or subordination of perjury, false statement, criminal fraud, embezzlement, or false pretense, or any other offense in the nature of crimen falsi, the commission of which involves some element of deceit, untruthfulness, or falsification bearing on the accused's propensity to testify truthfully. 26 H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 1597, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. 9, reprinted in 1974 U.S.C.C.A.N. pp. 7051, 7098, 7103. Nor do we believe that the inclusion of the term crimen falsi in the Conference Committee Report broadens the category of crimes admissible under Rule 609(a)(2). As the District of Columbia Circuit has noted, even in its broadest sense, the term crimen falsi has encompassed only those crimes characterized by an element of deceit or deliberate interference with the truth. United States v. Smith, 551 F.2d 348, 362-63 & n. 26 (D.C.Cir.1976). Thus, relying on the Conference Committee Report, we have held that to be admissible under Rule 609(a)(2), the prior conviction must involve some element of deceit, untruthfulness, or falsification which would tend to show that an accused would be likely to testify untruthfully. 6 United States v. Seamster, 568 F.2d 188, 190 (10th Cir.1978). 27 Consequently, we have held that crimes like burglary, robbery, and theft are not automatically admissible under Rule 609(a)(2), Seamster, 568 F.2d at 190, but that a conviction for making false and misleading statements in the sale of securities is, United States v. O'Connor, 635 F.2d 814, 818-19 (10th Cir.1980). We have also held that a conviction for making false claims to the United States government is a crime of dishonesty or false statement. Wolf, 561 F.2d at 1381. And in United States v. Mucci, 630 F.2d 737 (10th Cir.1980), we held that issuing a bad check while knowing it will be dishonored is a crime of dishonesty or false statement. Id. at 743; accord United States v. Kane, 944 F.2d 1406, 1412 (7th Cir.1991); United States v. Rogers, 853 F.2d 249, 252 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 946, 109 S.Ct. 375, 102 L.Ed.2d 364 (1988); United States v. Livingston, 816 F.2d 184, 190 (5th Cir.1987). 7 28 Furthermore, we have suggested that the trial court may look beyond the elements of an offense that is not considered a per se crime of dishonesty to determine whether the particular conviction rested upon facts establishing dishonesty or false statement. See United States v. Whitman, 665 F.2d 313, 320 (10th Cir.1981); Seamster, 568 F.2d at 191. For example, in Whitman, we held that a grand larceny conviction stemming from a land fraud scheme was a crime of dishonesty, because the larceny was committed by false pretenses rather than by stealth. 665 F.2d at 320. 29 However, neither the elements of the offense for which Mejia was convicted nor any evidence concerning the way it was committed support the district court's conclusion that the conviction was admissible as a crime of dishonesty or false statement under Rule 609(a)(2). The crime for which Mejia was apparently convicted--unauthorized acquisition and possession of food stamps under 7 U.S.C. § 2024 8 --does not include an element of deceitfulness or untruthfulness. 9 Nor did the government show that Mejia acquired the food-stamps in a deceitful manner: to the contrary, the Presentence Report indicated that Mejia acquired the stamps simply by giving an undercover Department of Agriculture agent four chrome pick-up truck wheels in exchange for the stamps. 10 Thus, Mejia's conviction for illegally acquiring and possessing food stamps does not appear to bear on the likelihood that he would testify truthfully any more than would a burglary conviction imposed for the illegal acquisition of other goods. The district court therefore erred in admitting Mejia's prior food-stamp conviction under Rule 609(a)(2). 11 30 Having determined that the district court erred in admitting the prior conviction, we must now consider whether the error was harmless. Because the defendant alleges no constitutional error, we will apply the harmless-error analysis of Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946). Under Kotteakos, a non-constitutional error is harmless unless it had a substantial influence on the outcome or leaves one in grave doubt as to whether it had such effect. 328 U.S. at 765, 66 S.Ct. at 1248; United States v. Rivera, 900 F.2d 1462, 1469 (10th Cir.1990) (en banc). We must therefore gauge whether the admission of Mejia's food-stamp conviction  'substantially influenced' the jury's verdict in the context of the entire case against him. United States v. Short, 947 F.2d 1445, 1455 (10th Cir.1991) (citing United States v. Williams, 923 F.2d 1397, 1401 (10th Cir.1990), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 2033, 114 L.Ed.2d 118 (1991)), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1680, 118 L.Ed.2d 397 (1992). 31 We do not believe that the admission of the food-stamp conviction substantially influenced the jury's verdict. The food-stamp conviction had only modest impeachment value, at best. Mejia's counsel brought out the conviction during direct examination of Mejia, without going into any detail. The food-stamp conviction was not drug-related or weapons-related, as were the charges in the instant case, thus reducing the potential for prejudice. The prosecutor's reference in closing arguments to Mejia's criminal conviction was brief and did not go into the details of the conviction. On the other hand, evidence of Mejia's guilt was considerable. We therefore find that the court's admission of the prior food-stamp conviction was harmless. 32