Court Opinion

ID: 9552009
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:03:24.203782+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:25:22.666011
License: Public Domain

RICHARDSON, J.
I respectfully dissent. With due deference, I suggest that, as in People v. Antick (1975) 15 Cal.3d 79 [123 Cal.Rptr. 475, 539 P.2d 43], the majority write into Evidence Code section 788 exceptions which the Legislature did not make to the general rule that felony convictions are admissible to attack the credibility of a witness. In doing so, the majority do not purport to base their decision upon overriding constitutional grounds. Indeed, as we noted in People v. Beagle (1972) 6 Cal.3d 441, 454 [99 Cal.Rptr. 313, 492 P.2d 1], “. . . there is no constitutional bar to the use of valid prior felony convictions for impeachment purposes ....”
Section 788 unambiguously provides that, with four specific exceptions not herein pertinent, “For the purpose of attacking the credibility of a *224witness, it may be shown by the examination of the witness or by, the record of the judgment that he has been convicted of a felony . . . In People v. Beagle, supra, we carefully explained that since section 788 is not expressed in mandatory, terms, the trial courts should have discretion to exclude evidence of prior convictions when their probative value is outweighed by the risk of prejudice. (Pp. 451-453.) In other words, under Beagle, trial courts are not required to admit all prior felonies. Beagle also pointed out, however, that, “No witness including a defendant who elects to testify in his own behalf is entitled to a false aura of veracity. The general rule is that felony convictions bearing on veracity are admissible.” (P. 453.) In this context, I have understood that by use of the foregoing language we meant that a witness taking the stand must anticipate that he risks exposure to the fact finder of impeaching evidence based upon previous criminal convictions. We emphasized in Beagle that “We do" not purport to establish rigid standards to govern that which in each instance must depend upon the sound exercise of judicial discretion.” (Id., italics added.)
Notwithstanding the foregoing Beagle rationale, first in Antick, and now in the present case, we impose those “rigid standards” which we disclaimed in Beagle. In Antick the majority held that the trial court abused its discretion when it permitted the People to introduce two “remote” forgery convictions (committed in 1957 and 1955), despite the fact that such convictions by their nature were relevant to the issue of defendant’s credibility. (See 15 Cal.3d at pp. 100-101 [dis. opn.].) Under Antick, trial courts presumably must always exclude similarly “remote” convictions, despite Beagle’s insistence that the matter rests in the court’s “sound discretion”; yet, section 788 imposes no such restriction.
In the present case, a similar rigid rule is established: A prior conviction may not be introduced to attack defendant’s credibility if the charge is “similar” to the offense being tried, and if other nonsimilar priors are available. The majority concede that the prior conviction at issue herein was neither remote (being committed in 1973) nor lacking in probative value (being relevant to defendant’s “integrity and veracity”). Defendant herein had sustained three prior convictions, a 1973 robbery, a 1971 forgery, and a 1971 marijuana possession charge. Under section 788, as interpreted by Beagle, the trial court had discretion to admit all, any, or none of the priors. The court exercised that discretion to exclude the two older offenses, presumably on the theory that the more recent offense would be more probative of defendant’s lack of credibility. The majority find this choice to be an abuse of discretion, given the similarity of the prior conviction and the offense to be tried.
*225The net effect of our decisions in Antick and the present case will be to require the trial courts to exclude all “remote” or “similar” priors, rather than risk a reversal of the conviction on appeal, even though neither constitutional considerations nor section 788’s language so requires, and even though we have said that no witness is entitled to “a false aura of veracity” and that the “sound discretion” of trial courts should determine admissibility. This result seems to me to constitute an effective revision of Evidence Code section 788, and lacking either constitutional or statutory compulsion, an invasion of the trial court’s discretion.
I would affirm the judgment.
McComb, J., and Clark, J., concurred.
Respondent’s petition for a rehearing was denied March 31, 1976. Clark, J., and Richardson, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.