Court Opinion

ID: 9776765
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:44:23.74218+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:20.763631
License: Public Domain

James R. Cooper, Judge, dissenting. I dissent for the reasons expressed in my dissenting opinion in Williams v. State, 6 Ark. App. 410, 644 S.W.2d 608 (1982), and an additional reason. Because of the facts in this case, some amplification is necessary. This is the appellant’s second trial on this charge. The first trial ended in a mistrial. In both trials, the appellant’s counsel agreed to stipulate to the fact that the appellant was a convicted felon, but he sought to preclude the State from showing the nature of the prior convictions and from showing more than one conviction. Apparently, the appellant had approximately ten prior convictions. In the first trial, the trial court denied the appellant’s motion. In the second trial, the trial court ruled that the State could show the convictions, including the nature of the felonies, but that the State could not go into the facts which led to the convictions, nor the sentences received for them. Based on that ruling, the appellant’s counsel informed the trial court that the appellant would have testified in his own behalf had it not been for the trial court’s ruling. He also informed the trial court of the substance of the appellant’s testimony.1  The appellant’s offer to stipulate to the fact of the prior convictions, and his requested limitation of the State’s proof, came after the State had rested its case and before the appellant’s defense began. As in Jones v. State, 274 Ark. 379, 625 S.W.2d 471 (1981), and Williams v. State, 6 Ark. App. 410, 644 S.W.2d 608 (1982), the appellant did not take the stand and no evidence concerning the prior convictions ever reached the jury. As noted in my dissent in Williams, the case at bar is not a routine case where this Court should determine if the trial court erred in balancing probative value against prejudicial effect. The added element, i.e., appellant’s stipulation of the fact of the prior felony conviction, has not been dealt with in either case. Williams and the case at bar are substantially different from Smith v. State, 277 Ark. 64, 639 S.W.2d 348 (1982), Jones v. State, 274 Ark. 379, 625 S.W.2d 471 (1981), and Washington v. State, 6 Ark. App. 85, 638 S.W.2d 690 (1982). The appellant argues that the trial court’s ruling had a chilling effect on his decision to testify. I would reverse and remand this case based on the reasons in my dissenting opinion in Williams. In the case at bar, I would reverse and remand for another reason. Under Rule 609 (a)(1), before the trial court can allow prior convictions into evidence for impeachment purposes, he must balance the probative value of the prior convictions against their prejudicial effect on the jury. I cannot see how the trial court can properly balance the probative value of prior convictions against their prejudicial effect until the appellant has testified on direct examination, or, at the very least, until the appellant has proffered his testimony, and the State has proffered its evidence concerning the prior convictions. The trial court made a blanket ruling that the State would be allowed to prove all of the appellant’s prior felonies, however many there were, and the type of crime underlying each conviction, but would not be allowed to go into the specific details of each crime nor the sentence received. I cannot determine whether the trial court had sufficient information before him to perform the mandatory balancing required under Rule 609 (a) (1). To this extent, I agree with Judge Glaze’s dissenting opinion in Williams. An on-the-record determination by the trial court, considering the factors that this Court outlined in Washington v. State, 6 Ark. App. 85, 638 S.W.2d 690 (1982), and such other factors as may be appropriate in a given case, will enable the appellate courts to decide these cases on the law and the facts, rather than on the assumption that the trial court properly performed his duty. Like Chief Judge May-field, I do not advocate a ritual or list, but I would require that something be contained in the record to show that the trial court did exercise his discretion as required by Rule 609 (a) (1). I also note that I do not necessarily disagree with the approach suggested by Chief Judge Mayfield in his concurring opinion in the case at bar, that whether more information than the fact of the prior conviction should be admitted may, in an appropriate case, merely be another factor to consider in the balancing process. Chief Judge Mayfield has indicated that he would hold that the trial court had no duty to make an “advance ruling” on the admissibility of appellant’s prior convictions, in the event that he testified. This issue was not raised by either party, and is not properly before this Court. I note that Smith v. State, supra, and Washington v. State, supra, were appeals from the denial of motions in limine and the admission into evidence of the prior felony convictions. Jones v. State, supra, Williams v. State, supra, and the case at bar were appeals from the denial of motions in limine only. While the Arkansas Supreme Court has not clearly decided the question raised by Chief Judge Mayfield, it certainly treated the question as being one which was properly before it in Jones v. State, supra.2    This was clearly done at the hearing in the first trial. It is somewhat unclear whether the record of the first hearing was incorporated into the record of the second trial, but that procedure was followed at least for one other motion. (T. 456). For the purpose of this discussion, I assume that the appellant raised the question in the same manner in his second trial as he did in the first.    For a discussion of the arguments for and against allowing review by an appellate court when the defendant does not testify, see United States v. Cook, 608 F.2d 1175 (9th Cir. 1979) (en banc), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1034, 100 S. Ct. 706, 62 L.Ed.2d 670 (1980).