People v. Atkinson

Following a jury trial, defendant Dale Atkinson was convicted of burglary in violation of section 19 — 1(a) of the Illinois Criminal Code of 1961 (720 ILCS 5/19 — 1(a) (West 1992)). Defendant was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. Defendant appeals, alleging (1) the trial court erred in failing to employ the Montgomery balancing test before allowing the State to impeach him with his prior convictions, (2) the trial court erred in refusing to allow the "mere fact” approach to impeaching with a prior conviction, and (3) that the inclusion of this evidence was reversible error. We reverse and…