United States v. Michael A. Lipscomb

WALD, Circuit Judge:

A jury convicted Michael Lipscomb of possession of heroin with intent to distribute, and he now appeals. Lipscomb did not testify in his own defense; had he done so, the government would have impeached his credibility with an eight-year-old robbery conviction under Rule 609(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Three other defense witnesses did testify and were impeached by prior felony convictions. In ruling that these prior convictions satisfied Rule 609(a)(l)’s requirement that “the probative value of admitting this evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect to the…