Court Opinion

ID: 9698855
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:01:41.543447+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:44.096090
License: Public Domain

ZAPPALA, Justice,
concurring.
While I join in the Majority’s disposition of this case, I write separately to again point out the ambiguity involved in working with the concept of crimen falsi without some sort of meaningful guideline in determining what cases in fact deal with this concept. As I have stated previously, determining what crimes involve crimen falsi based solely upon the statutory title of the offense or the Clerk of *412Courts’ verification that a defendant was convicted of a crime does not place that event in proper perspective in terms of meaningfulness and as an aid to the trier of fact. See, Commonwealth v. Strong, 522 Pa. 445, 468, 563 A.2d 479, 490 (1989, Zappala dissenting).
Until this court creates a meaningful standard for the evaluation of evidence of prior crimes as impeachment tools, I must take the position that the introduction of such evidence is irrelevant and prejudicial.
CAPPY, J., joins in this concurring opinion.