Court Opinion

ID: 9457936
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:38:36.331845+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:34.910578
License: Public Domain

KILEY, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I concur in Judge Campbell’s opinion that the conduct of the prosecutor in the above cause requires reversal of Dow’s conviction.
I agree that “the rule is well established in this Circuit” that a defendant who testifies is subject to impeachment by proof of prior convictions. I merely note my reservation with respect to that rule as applied in cases in this Circuit. I have consistently hesitated to agree that the rule “contemplates in all cases, as a mere exercise of discretion, use of prior convictions” in impeachment. See my concurring opinions in United States v. Escobedo, 430 F.2d 14, 21 (7th Cir. 1970), and United States v. Gornick, 448 F.2d 566 (7th Cir. 1971). I favor the “rule of thumb” used in the District of Columbia Circuit and substantially contained in Rule 609(a), Proposed Rules of Evidence for United States Courts and Magistrates, which limits the trial court’s discretion, as to evidence of prior convictions, to “crimen falsi” which bear on the witness’s credibility.