Opinion ID: 758727
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Crimes Involving Dishonesty and False Statement

Text: 30 Before addressing the time restriction, we must decide whether the crimes for which Doretha Payton was convicted involved dishonesty or false statement. Although Congress narrowly defined this term because of the Rule's inflexible lack of discretion and potential for prejudice, see United States v. Hayes, 553 F.2d 824, 827 (2d Cir.1977), we nonetheless agree with the district court's conclusion that both crimes qualified as Rule 609(a)(2) crimes. Doretha Payton's conviction for making a sworn false statement to a government official is obviously a crime of dishonesty and false statement by virtue of its title alone. 31 With respect to her conviction for third degree larceny, we will look beyond the elements of the offense to determine whether the conviction rested upon facts establishing dishonesty or false statement. See id. Doretha Payton was convicted of larceny because she unlawfully received food stamps after falsely stating in a sworn application that she qualified for welfare. Because her conduct arises out of the making of a false statement, it falls within the categories of crimes contemplated by Rule 609(a)(2). See Zinman, 983 F.2d at 434 (affirming a district court's determination that making a false statement to a government agency in connection with a medicare application is akin to perjury and thereby bears heavily on the issue of credibility). 32 Defendant attempts to carve out a special rule for food stamp convictions, insisting that the Tenth Circuit's holding in United States v. Mejia-Alarcon, 995 F.2d 982 (10th Cir.1993), stands for the broad proposition that prior convictions relating to the unlawful acquisition and possession of food stamps fail to qualify as crimes of dishonesty under Rule 609(a)(2). We cannot agree that Mejia-Alarcon stands for any such expansive view regarding food stamp crimes. In holding that a district court erred by admitting a prior conviction for the unauthorized acquisition and possession of food stamps, the Tenth Circuit expressly noted the government's failure to show that Mejia acquired the food-stamps in a deceitful manner. Id. at 990. Its holding rested on an examination of the specific facts of the crime, that is to say, the manner in which the crime was committed, and did not rest on a general legal pronouncement regarding food stamps. Accord Hayes, 553 F.2d at 827. Moreover, the facts of Mejia-Alarcon and the facts underlying Doretha Payton's convictions are distinguishable. Mejia acquired food stamps by trading four chrome pick-up truck wheels to an undercover agent. See Mejia-Alarcon, 995 F.2d at 988. In contrast, Doretha Payton made sworn false statements in her application for food stamps and thereby may be said to have acquired them in a deceitful manner, an element lacking in Mejia's case.