State v. LaPlante

The defendant appeals his conviction of simple assault, claiming that the trial court abused its discretion in excluding seven out of ten prior criminal convictions from his attempt to impeach the State’s key witness.

The defendant and a companion were each charged with aggravated assault under 13 Y.S.A. § 1024(a) (2), following a shooting incident at the home of an acquaintance in Sharon. The defendant’s companion pled guilty to simple assault and became the State’s main witness at the defendant’s trial. He testified that the defendant had done all the shooting, which the defendant denied.

In…