State of Iowa v. Justin Robert Derby

WATERMAN, Justice.

The threshold question in this case is whether a defendant who declines to testify can obtain a reversal of his conviction by appealing a pretrial order in limine that would have allowed the State to impeach him with evidence of his prior convictions if he testified. In State v. Brown, 569 N.W.2d 113, 117-18 (Iowa 1997), we held the defendant must testify in order to preserve error to challenge the use of his prior convictions as impeachment. Defendant, Justin Derby, asks us to overrule Brown in light of State v. Daly, 623 N.W.2d 799, 801 (Iowa 2001) (allowing testifying…