Court Opinion

ID: 9657896
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:40:33.441114+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:49.223387
License: Public Domain

Otis, Justice
(dissenting).
I concur in the result, only because of peculiar circumstances which require an affirmance in this case. However, I vigorously dissent from that part of the opinion which purports to deny the court in future cases the right to reassess the validity of Minn. St. 595.07 when the proper occasion arises.
To perpetuate the myth that the disclosure of defendant’s prior convictions has no effect on a jury beyond reflecting unfavorably on his credibility is, in my opinion, an abdication of judicial responsibility.
It is our duty to guarantee defendant a fair trial. The legislature cannot constitutionally enact rules of evidence which deprive defendant of that right. Nor are we obliged to stand mute in deference to legislative comity when a majority of the court agrees that a statutory rule is manifestly prejudicial to the rights of an accused.
I cannot condone in perpetuity a law which so obviously and effectively denies defendant an opportunity to profess his innocence. In my opinion, the statute is simply a vestige of an era when the accused was prohibited from testifying on his own behalf for any purpose.
I would reserve the right to review the matter in any future case where the application of the statute would frustrate the ends of justice.
*199Mr. Justice Rogosheske took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.