People v. Walker

OPINION OF THE COURT

Titone, J.

The narrow issue presented for consideration here is whether defendant was entitled to an order precluding the prosecution from cross-examining him about his prior use of aliases when the defense claimed that there was an alternative explanation for the defendant’s use of aliases that potentially rebutted the inference of dishonesty. Concluding that the probative worth of alias evidence can be adequately assessed by the fact finder in most situations, we decline to impose a legal requirement of preclusion in these circumstances and hold instead that, like many…