People v. Wheeler

Opinion

BAXTER, J.

After a jury trial, defendant was convicted of sale of cocaine. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11352.) The Court of Appeal affirmed. We granted *288review to decide how Proposition 8’s “Truth-in-Evidence” amendment to the Constitution (Cal. Const., art. I, § 28, subd. (d) (hereafter section 28(d)) affects the statutory rule (Evid. Code, §§ 787, 788) that felony convictions are the only form of conduct evidence admissible to impeach the credibility of a witness.

We conclude that although section 28(d) abrogates the felony-convictions-only rule in criminal cases and gives criminal courts…