McClellan v. State

DOWNEY, Judge.

Prior to voir dire examination of the jury, appellant moved the court in limine to prohibit the State from using appellant’s prior conviction of petty theft for impeachment purposes. Appellant contended that petty theft may or may not involve dishonesty or false statements; if it does not, then it can not be used at trial to impeach defendant. The trial judge concluded that the proper procedure to impeach a witness based on prior convictions is for the prosecutor to ask the witness if he had ever been convicted of a crime. If the witness answers yes, the prosecutor may then ask…