Court Opinion

ID: 9629093
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:36:54.26692+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:33.611245
License: Public Domain

BRETT, Judge,
specially concurring:
I agree that the conviction must be affirmed insofar as the evidence of guilt is overwhelming. Had the evidence not been so strong in favor of conviction, I would have been compelled to reverse and remand this case for a new trial on the basis of the improper closing argument presented by the State. Although appellant’s prior convictions were properly admitted into evidence when he testified in his own defense, the prosecutor was outside the permissible bounds of the law when he argued that the prior convictions went to show appellant’s character in that he had previously engaged in similar criminal conduct and was *565thus guilty of the present charge. Appellant’s previous convictions were admissible for the purpose of impeaching his credibility, and to use them in closing argument as the prosecutor did was improper.