Court Opinion

ID: 9468462
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:15:27.04438+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:52.741042
License: Public Domain

STEPHENSON, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion except with respect to its holding that the district court abused its discretion in permitting the government to impeach appellants with 1968 convictions (twelve years old), although holding the same was harmless error. See majority opinion at 1299-1301. It is my view that the convictions were properly admitted. The record supports the district court’s finding that the probative value of the convictions under the facts of this ease outweighed the prejudicial effect. See United States v. Spero, 625 F.2d 779 (8th Cir. 1980); United States v. Little, 567 F.2d 346 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 969, 98 S.Ct. 1608, 56 L.Ed.2d 60 (1977). The credibility of both appellants was important. Both claimed they had no intent or purpose to violate the law but were, in substance, gathering information for the government. Furthermore, neither appellant could rely on the presumption that an unblemished record for ten years carried an inference that they had been rehabilitated. See majority opinion at 1301, n.10. Evidence was received indicating each appellant had been convicted of another felony within ten years of the instant offense.