Court Opinion

ID: 9553026
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:20:58.410456+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:29:32.338078
License: Public Domain

MOSK, J.
.—I concur in the judgment.
I also concur generally in the opinion of the court.
I write separately to state that it seems plain to me that the “remoteness” of a prior felony conviction that a party seeks to use to impeach a witness as he testifies is measured from the date the witness suffered the conviction, or was released from imprisonment therefor, whichever is later, to the date the witness takes the stand. (Cf. Fed. Rules Evid., rule 609(b), 28 U.S.C. [measuring “remoteness” from “the date of the conviction or of the release of the witness from the confinement imposed for that conviction, whichever *215is the later date”].) The law deems relevant the comparison between the person as he was then and the person as he is now. It implicitly asks this question: “The witness was a criminal once: is he rehabilitated today?” (Cf. 28 Wright & Gold, Federal Practice and Procedure (1993) § 6136, pp. 254-255 [under Fed. Rules Evid., rule 609(b), 28 U.S.C.].)
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied September 21, 1994, and the opinion was modified to read as printed above.