Court Opinion

ID: 9552884
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:18:50.500909+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:29:17.179776
License: Public Domain

GORDON, Justice
(dissenting):
As I am unable to agree with the majority’s position on admission of the prior conviction for impeachment purposes and on the propriety of the county attorney’s closing remarks, I dissent.
Under Rule 609, Arizona Rules of Evidence, a prior conviction may be admissible “[f]or the purpose of attacking the credibility of a witness.” Before this evidence can be used, however, the prosecution has the burden of proving “that the probative value of admitting this evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect.” The trial court must require the prosecution to meet this burden, or admission of the prior conviction will be error. State v. Wilson, 128 Ariz. 422, 626 P.2d 152 (App.1981).
In determining whether the prior conviction is more probative than prejudicial, the trial court should be guided by such factors as the remoteness of the conviction, the nature of the prior crime, the defendant’s age at the time of the prior crime, the similarity of the prior conviction to the present charge, and the defendant’s criminal record since the prior conviction. See Luck v. United States, 348 F.2d 763 (D.C. Cir.1965); State v. Domme, 111 Ariz. 464, 532 P.2d 526 (1975). Because we will reverse the trial court only for an abuse of discretion, the trial court should have an on-the-record discussion of these factors detailing its exercise of discretion.
In the instant case, I believe the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the prior conviction. The probative value of appellant’s prior conviction for possession of a narcotic drug is slight. Although the conviction was only about one and one-half years old at the time of trial on the current charge, the nature of the possession conviction indicates it has little to do with appellant’s truthfulness.
Moreover, the similarity of the possession conviction to the instant charge would tend to have a great prejudicial effect on appellant. As then Judge Burger said in Gordon v. United States, 383 F.2d 936 (D.C.Cir. 1967):
“A special and even more difficult problem arises when the prior conviction is for the same or substantially the same conduct for which the accused is on trial. Where multiple convictions of various kinds can be shown, strong reasons arise for excluding those which are for the same crime because of the inevitable pressure on lay jurors to believe that ‘if he did it before he probably did so this time.’ As a general guide, those convictions which are for the same crime should be admitted sparingly; one solution might well be that discretion be exercised to limit the impeachment by way of a similar crime to a single conviction and then only when the circumstances indicate strong reasons for disclosure, and where the conviction directly relates to veracity.”
Id. at 940 (footnote omitted). Although the possession conviction is not identical to the instant sale charge, it is sufficiently similar so that the jury would infer, “If appellant was once a drug user, he probably would be involved in selling drugs now.”
The prejudice was compounded by the county attorney’s closing argument. The prosecutor stated, “We are asking you to *220convict a narcotic dealer. We are trying to help—we are trying to stamp this out of Arizona, out of the community and that is your duty and I ask you to find the defendant guilty.” Thus, not only would the prior conviction improperly infer to the jury that “once involved with drugs, always involved with drugs,” but the jury was told it had a duty to convict all people so involved.
I would find, therefore, that the prejudicial effect of the narcotics conviction far outweighed its probative value for impeachment purposes. The conviction should not have been admitted under Rule 609.
If the conviction was admissible substantively under Rule 404(b), any error in admitting it for impeachment purposes under Rule 609 would be harmless. The concern under Rule 609 of a prior conviction's prejudicial effect is that the jury will consider it substantively rather than solely for impeachment purposes. If the conviction is admissible substantively, there is no concern under Rule 609 for prejudice. But I do not believe that the conviction could have been admitted under Rule 404(b).1 The majority states:
“We think that the probative value outweighed the prejudice of the testimony in the light of appellant’s subsequent testimony that he was ‘framed’ and that he ‘didn’t have any knowledge that the cocaine was going to be sold.’ From his previous conviction for possession of a narcotic, the jury could infer that he was familiar with narcotics transactions and conclude that he was aware a drug sale was to take place when he met with the undercover officers, Parkey and Thrasher. It therefore tended to discredit his denial that the meeting was to arrange a sale of cocaine.”
I believe that this rationale is not applicable to whether the conviction could be used for impeachment purposes under Rule 609. The evidence was not used in the nature of rebuttal. Rather, because appellant put at issue his intent to commit the crime, the rationale goes to using the prior conviction substantively to prove intent under Rule 404(b). By denying knowledge that cocaine would be sold, appellant put the state to its burden of proving intent beyond a reasonable doubt. But because the prior conviction was for mere possession of narcotics and the instant charge is for sale, I do not find that the prior conviction is sufficiently similar to be relevant to proving appellant’s intent in the instant case. Thus, the prior conviction was also inadmissible under Rule 404(b).
I also find error in the county attorney’s closing remarks quoted by the majority. The county attorney, in effect, told the jury that it had the duty to convict appellant because he had been accused of narcotics dealing, and the jury should join the county attorney’s office in stamping out narcotics dealers. Additionally, the jury knew of appellant’s prior conviction for possession of narcotics. The county attorney told the jury, “[W]e are here today, to convict the defendant of this.”
The county attorney grossly misstated the function of the jury. The jury is not an arm of the county attorney’s office. The purpose of the jury is to sift through the evidence adduced at trial and determine whether the county attorney has proved the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable *221doubt. This argument called the jury’s attention to matters it could not consider in reaching a verdict. See State v. Puffer, 110 Ariz. 180, 516 P.2d 316 (1973). Because I find these improper remarks taken together with the jury’s knowledge of appellant’s prior conviction probably influenced the verdict, thereby denying appellant a fair trial, I would reverse.2 See Puffer.

. In addition to the differences in the use of prior convictions under Rule 404(b) and Rule 609, there are other important distinctions between the rules. For example, the prosecution has the burden under Rule 609 of proving that a prior conviction’s probative value outweighs its prejudicial effect. Rule 404(b) has no such provision. If a prior conviction properly comes within an exception enumerated in Rule 404(b), to exclude it, a defendant must prove under Rule 403 that the conviction’s prejudicial effect outweighs its probative value. Another difference is that although similarity of the prior conviction to the instant charge weighs toward prejudicial effect when used for impeachment purposes under Rule 609, similarity weighs toward probative value when the prior conviction is used for substantive purposes under Rule 404(b). See, e. g., State v. Brown, 125 Ariz. 160, 608 P.2d 299 (1980); State v. Jerousek, 121 Ariz. 420, 590 P.2d 1366 (1979); State v. Rose, 121 Ariz. 131, 589 P.2d 5 (1978).

. The instant case is distinguishable from State v. Jaramillo, 110 Ariz. 481, 520 P.2d 1105 (1974). The prosecutor in Jaramillo made similar comments about the drug problem in the community and the jury’s opportunity to do something about it. But unlike the prosecutor in the instant case, the prosecutor in Jaramillo added that the evidence proved the defendant’s guilt and that the jury should convict on the basis of the evidence.