State v. Overland

Appellant was convicted of the crime of grand larceny, and brings his case to this court assigning error in two matters; that is, that he was interrogated upon cross-examination and compelled to admit a prior conviction, and that the court permitted the state to offer original evidence in rebuttal. Whatever may have been the rule prior *567to the adoption of the criminal code, it is now the law that, when a party accused of crime offers himself as a witness, it may be shown that he has been previously convicted of a crime. This question is settled by the statute (Rem. & Bal. Code, § ££90), and by…