Ernest Leyba v. State

OPINION

JEFFREY V. BROWN, Justice.

Appellant Ernest Leyba was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to a term of life imprisonment. On appeal, our review is limited to deciding whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting evidence of Leyba’s prior convictions. We affirm.

I"

Leyba was charged with the stabbing death of Brandon Tate. Because Leyba admitted to the stabbing in the proceedings below, the only issue for the trier of fact was whether he had acted in self-defense.

The prosecution’s theory of the case was that Leyba killed Tate in the midst of a drug transaction. On…