Court Opinion

ID: 9466238
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:09:20.499384+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:37.227308
License: Public Domain

SNEED, Circuit Judge
(dissenting in part to and concurring in part with en banc opinion):
While I concur in the judgment to affirm the appellant’s conviction and some of the opinion of the majority, I cannot join that portion of the majority’s opinion which overrules United States v. Murray, 492 F.2d 178 (9th Cir. 1973). I would continue to deny an appeal on a ruling to admit prior convictions for the purposes of impeachment when such convictions were in fact not admitted because the defendant failed to take the stand. I concur in Judge Kennedy’s opinion which sets forth cogent reasons for this position.
I write separately only to add these comments. The majority’s procedure for preserving any error for appeal strikes me as cumbersome and unlikely to separate the instances in which the ruling to admit significantly influenced the defendant’s decision not to testify from those in which it did not so influence the defendant’s decision. Moreover, viewed in retrospect an erroneous ruling to admit will seldom be considered harmless error when the defendant fails to testify.
I realize that these assertions at this stage cannot be overwhelmingly supported. However, neither can they be conclusively disproved. What I believe the majority is doing is creating another device which more often will lead to reversal of otherwise entirely proper convictions than to prevention of injustice. Put differently, what the majority requires may well satisfy our intellectual aspirations for justice but is unlikely otherwise to serve the ends of justice.
Finally, let me add that New Jersey v. Portash, 440 U.S. 450, 99 S.Ct. 1292, 59 L.Ed.2d 501 (1979), 39 CCH S.Ct. Bull. pp. B 1436-1460, does not require the overruling of Murray. Portash did not hold that it *1192would be unconstitutional to require that the defendant take the stand to preserve his contention that immunized testimony could not be used for impeachment purposes. Rather the Court held that if New Jersey determined that taking the stand was not necessary to preserve the issue that determination did not prevent the proceeding from being a “case or controversy” cognizable by the Court. The dissenters believed there was no “case or controversy.”
Those of us who disagree with Judge Goodwin’s opinion as it relates to overruling Murray argue that we should not permit the issue regarding priors to be preserved in the absence of the defendant taking the stand. In short, we argue that we should not do as New Jersey did in Portash. The Court in Portash did not say that New Jersey was required to do as it did by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Therefore, we remain free to adhere to Murray.
HUFSTEDLER, Circuit Judge
(with whom ELY, Circuit Judge, concurs), dissenting from en banc opinion:
Although I agree with the majority that a defendant does not have to take the stand to preserve for appeal a claim of error in the district court’s admission of his prior convictions, I strongly disagree with the majority’s decision on the merits of the Rule 609 issues. The district court erred in admitting Cook’s prior convictions because they were neither crimes involving “dishonesty or false statement” nor did their probative value outweigh their prejudicial effect. The majority opinion does not directly address the question of Rule 609 error because it blends the two distinct issues of the existence of error with the existence of prejudice. The majority opinion at least implies that there was no error in the district court’s ruling admitting the prior convictions. If that is what the majority intends to say, the remainder of the discussion is dictum. We have no occasion to inquire into the prejudicial effect of a non-error.
I
As the majority recognizes, a defendant’s failure to take the stand cannot in any sense be deemed a waiver of his right to complain about an erroneous decision to admit his prior convictions. United States v. Murray (9th Cir. 1973) 492 F.2d 178, was flatly wrong, and it is correctly overruled. Overruling Murray brings us into line with the other Circuits that have directly considered this issue. (United States v. Hickey (1st Cir. 1979) 596 F.2d 1082; United States v. Langston (5th Cir. 1978) 576 F.2d 1138, 1139; United States v. Fearwell (1978) 193 U.S.App.D.C. 386, 392, 595 F.2d 771, 777; United States v. Smith (1976), 179 U.S.App.D.C. 162, 171, 551 F.2d 348, 357; see also United States v. Hayes (2d Cir. 1977) 553 F.2d 824, 826 (non-waiver assumed without discussion).)
A criminal defendant’s right to take the stand or to remain mute is firmly secured by the Constitution. (Griffin v. California (1965) 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106.) Requiring a defendant to forego his constitutional right not to take the stand as the price for preserving error on appeal is thus constitutionally suspect. The waiver theory endorsed by Brothers Sneed and Kennedy would require us unnecessarily to face this constitutional problem.1
The waiver concept is inapplicable in this context because no effective waiver of a *1193constitutional right can be implied in absence of proof of intentional and voluntary relinquishment of a known right. (Brewer v. Williams (1977) 430 U.S. 387,404, 97 S.Ct. 1232, 51 L.Ed.2d 424; Johnson v. Zerbst (1938) 304 U.S. 458, 464, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461.) Relinquishment of the right to silence is not voluntary when the defendant’s choice is influenced by an erroneous ruling of law upon the admissibility of prior convictions. My Brother Kennedy’s contrary view is premised upon the assumption that the coercive effect of an erroneous ruling is trivial because “a defendant found guilty will prevail on appeal, so he has no reason to remain silent in reliance upon an adverse ruling.” (Kennedy, J., 608 F.2d at 1189.) I disagree. A defendant’s goal is to obtain an acquittal.2 Effective defense counsel will be vigilant in preserving a record for appeal, but he will not do so in a manner that prejudices his client’s chances for acquittal. The prejudicial impact of a defendant’s prior convictions on his chances for acquittal is evidenced by the prosecution’s eagerness to introduce evidence of prior convictions at the time of trial. A defendant will always be more reluctant to exercise his right to take the stand when the prosecution has obtained a ruling permitting evidence of his prior convictions to go before a jury.
My Brother Kennedy argues that our rejecting the waiver doctrine is illogical because a non-testifying defendant can take advantage of an undeveloped record, an opportunity denied a testifying defendant. The assumed discrepancy does not exist. Both the testifying and non-testifying defendants must make a record upon the basis of which an appellate court can determine whether an erroneous Rule 609 ruling was prejudicial. The testifying defendant’s record is made while on the stand. The non-testifying defendant must nevertheless make a record to demonstrate prejudice, following procedures discussed infra. The dissatisfaction of some of my brethren with the appropriate methods for making a record in absence of testimony from the stand does not justify the invocation of the waiver doctrine. What is involved in the Rule 609 situation is an ordinary, non-constitutional evidentiary question: Did the district court err in ruling that Cook’s 1967 robbery convictions were admissible against him? If the answer is “no,” further discussion of the issue is unnecessary. If the answer is “yes,” then the question is whether the erroneous ruling was prejudicial.
II
The majority opinion never directly answers the first question. Instead, the majority opinion blurs the two questions, holding, without explanation, that the district court did not “prejudicially misappl[y] Rule 609(a)” and that “[t]he decision to permit the prior convictions to come in was not, therefore, the kind of error that requires reversal . . . .” (Goodwin, J., 608 F. 2d at 1187 — 1188.) The majority opinion implies that the district court’s ruling on the admissibility of the prior convictions was not erroneous; yet, if that is the holding, the majority has no occasion at all to discuss the question of prejudice or the kind of record that must be made to demonstrate prejudice.
The majority’s problem is refusal to accept Congress’ decision severely restricting the admissibility of prior convictions under Rule 609. Rule 609(a) of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides:
“For the purpose of attacking the credibility of a witness, evidence that he has been convicted of a crime shall be admitted if elicited from him or established by public record during cross-examination but only if the crime (1) was punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year under the law under which he was convicted, and the court determines that the probative value of admitting this evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect to the defendant, or (2) involved dishones*1194ty or false statement, regardless of the punishment.”
Cook’s prior robbery convictions were not admissible under 609(a)(2). The overwhelming weight of authority is that only such crimes as are technically within the concept of crimen falsi are encompassed by Rule 609(aX2). No matter how “dishonest” burglars, robbers, and thieves may be, those crimes, and a large number of other kinds of crimes that involve elements of dishonesty are excluded from the definition of Rule 609(aX2). (United States v. Fearwell, supra, 193 U.S.App.D.C. at 392, 595 F.2d at 777 (petty larceny); United States v. Dorsey (1978) 192 U.S.App.D.C. 313, 591 F.2d 922 (shoplifting); United States v. Hastings (8th Cir. 1978) 577 F.2d 38 (narcotics); United States v. Ashley (5th Cir. 1978) 569 F.2d 975 (shoplifting); United States v. Seamster (10th Cir. 1978) 568 F.2d 188 (burglary); United States v. Ortega (9th Cir. 1977) 561 F.2d 803 (shoplifting); United States v. Hayes (2d Cir. 1977) 553 F.2d 824 (importing cocaine); United States v. Smith (1976) 179 U.S.App.D.C. 162, 551 F.2d 348 (armed robbery and assault); Virgin Islands v. Testamark (3rd Cir. 1976) 528 F.2d 742 (petty larceny).)
Cook’s prior robbery convictions were inadmissible unless the district court properly applied the balancing test of Rule 609(a)(1) and correctly decided that the probative value of the robberies outweighed their prejudicial effect.
The Government had the burden of showing that the probative value of the prior robbery convictions outweighed the prejudice from their admission. (United States v. Smith, supra, 551 F.2d 348, 359-60; United States v. Oakes (1st Cir. 1977) 565 F.2d 170, 172 & n.10; United States v. Hayes, supra, 553 F.2d 824, 828; United States v. Mahone (7th Cir. 1976) 537 F.2d 922, 929; 3 J. Weinstein, Evidence If 609[03] at 609-40, 41, 42 (1975); Cong.Rec. 12254, 12257 (Dec. 18, 1974) (remarks of House conferees).)
The Government’s burden is a very difficult one because few prior criminal offenses that do not involve either dishonesty or false statement are likely to be probative of a witness’ veracity. (United States v. Haw-ley (2d Cir. 1977) 554 F.2d 50, 52 (difference between 609(a)(1) and 609(a)(2) is based on “the proposition that evidence of prior crimes involving dishonesty or false statement is highly relevant to the trier of fact in the assessment of a witness’ credibility, while the same degree of relevance cannot generally be claimed for all other felony convictions.”).)
The probative value to be balanced is “the tendency of the prior crimes evidence to persuade the jury that defendant was not a credible person,” while the prejudice to be balanced is “the tendency of the prior conviction evidence to persuade the jury that defendant probably committed the crime charged on trial or its tendency to persuade the jury that defendant was simply a ‘bad man’ and probably deserved to be in jail.” (United States v. Martinez (5th Cir. 1977) 555 F.2d 1273,1276.) Among the factors to be considered by courts in assessing the probative value of priors with respect to witness credibility are: the type of crime — where does the crime rank “on the scale of veracity-related crimes?” — (United States v. Hayes, supra, 553 F.2d 824, 828 (violence-type crimes do not rate high on this scale)), whether the defendant testified at the previous trial (if the defendant did not testify, the prior conviction has less bearing on veracity, Id.), and the age of the conviction (the older the conviction, the less probative it is on the credibility issue, Id.). Among the factors to be considered in assessing the prejudicial impact of the priors is their similarity to the crime for which the defendant is being tried (the greater the similarity, the greater the danger of prejudice). (United States v. Seamster, supra, 568 F.2d 188; United States v. Shapiro (7th Cir. 1977) 565 F.2d 479, 481; United States v. Hayes, supra, 553 F.2d 824.)
The district court did not comply with Rule 609(a)(1). The Government argued, apparently successfully before the district court, that Cook’s prior convictions were *1195admissible under Rule 609(a)(2).3 The Government did not make any showing that the probative value of Cook’s prior convictions outweighed their prejudicial effect. In explaining its ruling, the district court said: “if he [Cook] testifies and the evidence of his conviction does not go in, then the jury might well consider him to be a volunteer in service and completely without a criminal record, and the authorities so indicate, that robbery is a crime involving dishonesty, and that if he does testify the jury is entitled to know of this conviction.”
The majority opinion concedes that the district court’s ruling was “at best . inarticulate, and at worst revealed that he misconceived the purpose of the rule [609(a)].” (Goodwin, J., 608 F.2d at 1187-1188.) Nevertheless, the majority opinion concludes that “the ruling did not constitute an abuse of discretion, as appropriate reasons could have been given for it.” (Ibid.) The invocation of the abuse of discretion concept is inappropriate because the district court did not properly exercise the only discretion given to it under Rule 609(a)(1). As I read the majority opinion, the majority has concluded that even if the prejudicial effect outweighs the probative value of the prior convictions, the prior convictions are nevertheless admissible if the district court believes that a defendant will present himself in a false light before the jury in absence of the admission of the prior convictions. The majority opinion states:
“[f]rom earlier colloquy about witnesses, the court had reason to believe the defendant would take the stand and palm himself off as a peace-loving member of the American Friends Service Committee with interests in prison reform and social protest. In the context of the entire record, it is not surprising that the court was unwilling to let a man with a substantial criminal history misrepresent himself to the jury, with the government forced to sit silently by, looking at a criminal record which, if made known, would give the jury a more comprehensive view of the trustworthiness of the defendant as a witness.” (Goodwin, J., 608 F.2d 1187.)
The majority opinion has thus unjustifiably created an exception to the statutory scheme embodied in Rule 609(a). The creation of the exception cannot be accepted. First, there is no record to support the majority’s speculations about what Cook would have testified about if he had taken the stand. Second, the majority’s argument is no justification for admitting Cook’s priors because there are thoroughly acceptable means by which a criminal defendant can be prevented from misrepresenting himself on the stand without ruling in advance that his priors are admissible. Judge Weinstein explained the proper procedure in painstaking detail in United States v. Jackson (E.D.N.Y.1975) 405 F.Supp. 938. In Jackson, Judge Weinstein expressly conditioned exclusion of a defendant’s priors on the condition that he avoid “either through direct testimony or by implication” conveying to the jury “the false notion that he has never been in trouble with the law.” Moreover, it has never been doubted that false denials of previous wrongdoing can be contradicted on cross-examination (United States v. Woif (10th *1196Cir. 1977) 561 F.2d 1376; United States v. Alvarez-Lopez (9th Cir. 1977) 559 F.2d 1155.) Thus, pretrial rulings to admit a defendant’s priors cannot be justified on the grounds that the priors must be admitted to contradict false denials of previous wrongdoing that never have been made. If the trial judge had been concerned that Cook would paint himself in a false light on direct examination, he could have made the exclusion of Cook’s priors conditional on Cook’s not engaging in such misleading testimony.
The majority opinion expressly recognizes that the conditional exclusion procedure is the proper method for dealing with any concern that a defendant may misrepresent himself while on the stand. (Goodwin, J., 608 F.2d at 1187.) However, the unconditional admission of Cook’s priors is upheld because the majority “cannot say that this is not” a rare case where “the court’s suspicions may be adequately grounded in the prior course of the trial to permit an advance ruling that the accused’s record will shed probative light on the testimony the accused has indicated he will offer.” (Goodwin, J., 608 F.2d at 1187.) This reasoning misconceives both the purpose of the conditional exclusion device and the requirements for the unconditional admission of priors under Rule 609(a)(1). A ruling excluding a defendant’s priors on the condition that he not misrepresent himself while on the stand is wholly adequate to satisfy any concern over misrepresentation, regardless of what the court’s suspicions may be, or how strongly grounded they are in the prior course of the trial. If the court’s suspicions prove true and a defendant misrepresents himself, the priors may then be used to contradict the misrepresentations. A ruling admitting priors in advance of a defendant’s testimony can be justified only if the priors reflect on the defendant’s veracity even in the absence of any misrepresentations. There was never any explanation by the Government or the district court of how Cook’s prior robbery convictions in any way reflected on his veracity as a witness. Rule 609(a)(1) requires such an assessment for the trial court properly to balance the probative value of the priors against their prejudicial effect. While I agree with the majority that Rule 609(a)(1) indicates that Congress “intended to allow crimes of violence to retain some impeaching effect in some cases,” it is necessary for the trial court to determine carefully whether the particular crime of violence has such an impeaching effect. The district court here failed entirely to make such a determination.4
Ill
Once we recognize that the district court erred in ruling Cook’s priors admissible, we must consider the question of how a defendant who does not take the stand can demonstrate that he was prejudiced by an erroneous ruling to admit his priors. I agree with the majority that not all erroneous rulings on the admission of prior convictions should be deemed prejudicial. As usual in cases involving non-constitutional error, the appellant is required to show from the record below that the error was prejudicial.
I agree with the majority that the offer of proof procedure outlined in Rule 103 of the Federal Rules of Evidence is an acceptable method of making a record *1197to demonstrate prejudice. I do not agree with the majority, however, when they say that “a defendant who does not make the record contemplated in Rule 103 can fairly be said to have abandoned” his right to complain about the district court’s ruling. (Goodwin, J., 608 F.2d at 1186.) After discarding the waiver theory of Murray, I do not understand why we should revive it under the name of “abandonment.” There is no reason why we should single out this particular evidentiary problem and move away from settled principles of prejudice. (See United States v. Fearwell, supra, 193 U.S.App.D.C. at 394, 595 F.2d at 779, n.22; see also United States v. Smith, supra, 551 F.2d 348.)
I do not share the concerns expressed by Brothers Sneed and Kennedy that the methods of demonstrating prejudice without the defendant’s taking the stand will lead to reversals “in cases when the defendant .would not have taken the stand in any event.” (Kennedy, J., 608 F.2d at 1189.) If the prosecution is convinced that the defendant would not take the stand entirely apart from the admission of priors, then there is no reason for the prosecution to contest Rule 609 motions, particularly in light of the majority’s recognition that the trial judge is “free to meet any deception by modifying” 609 rulings. Convictions will only be reversed in cases where the district court made an error of law that prejudices a substantial right of the defendant.
Because the standards for preserving a record of prejudice that we adopt in this case were unavailable at the time of trial, I would remand the case to the district court because the district court erred in ruling that Cook’s prior convictions were admissible. (Cf. United States v. Smith, supra, 551 F.2d at 357).

. I am somewhat puzzled by the suggestions of Brothers Goodwin and Kennedy that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in New Jersey v. Portash (1979) 440 U.S. 1292, 99 S.Ct. 1292, 59 L.Ed.2d 501, provides nourishment for their contrary positions in this case. Portash provides no help on the question before us because the Supreme Court rested its decision on the fact that the state courts had treated the constitutional questions as properly presented. Thus, Portash does not decide the question whether a defendant may be required to take the stand as a condition for complaining about claimed errors in trial court rulings. The fact that one concurring and one dissenting justice expressed their individual opinions about the consequences of a defendant’s failure to take the stand is not controlling because a majority of the Court failed to express agreement with these views.

. Indeed, the very purpose for a defendant to himself. testify at trial is to try to obtain an acquittal for

. In his brief in support of the motion in limine, Cook argued that the priors were not admissible under 609(a)(2) because robbery is not a crime involving dishonesty or false statement. Cook argued that the robbery convictions should be excluded under 609(a)(1) because they were not “probative of credibility” and their similarity to the offense charged made them very prejudicial. (R. 58-60.) On June 11, 1976, the Government filed its response to Cook’s motion. The Government’s response stated: “The Government submits that defendant Cook’s prior conviction for robbery is a crime qualifying as a crime involving dishonesty or false statement under Rule 609(a)(2).” The Government argued that “[ujnlike other types of crime, admissibility under 609(a)(2) does not hinge upon a discretionary balancing by the Court.” (R. 107, 108.) Because the Government relied on 609(a)(2) as its grounds for admissibility, the Government made no effort to shoulder its 609(a)(1) burden of demonstrating that the probative value of the priors on the defendant’s credibility outweighed their prejudicial effect. Instead, the Government erroneously believed that the priors were automatically admissible under 609(a)(2) because of the nature of the offense.

. The majority’s discussion of United States v. Dixon (9th Cir. 1976) 547 F.2d 1079, maybe misinterpreted as holding that the burden of proof was on the defendant, rather than the Government, to show that the probative value of priors outweighs their prejudicial effect. The majority explains that in Dixon a prior robbery conviction “could have been excluded under Rule 609(a)(1) only if the court made a preliminary finding that the prejudicial effect to the defendant outweighed the probative value of the evidence.” (Goodwin, J., 608 F.2d at 1187.) However, Dixon involved a situation where the prosecution sought to have the pri- or conviction of one of its witnesses excluded. Since the burden of proof is on the proponent of the admission of the evidence, the burden was not on the prosecution there. Here, the prosecution is the party seeking to use Cook’s prior convictions. Thus, the burden is on the Government to demonstrate that the probative value of the priors outweighs their prejudicial impact. The district court missed this point.