Gilbert B. Martinez v. Eddie Ylst, Superintendent, California Medical Facility South

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge:

In 1983, Gilbert Martinez was tried in state court and convicted of numerous pizza parlor robberies. During the pretrial proceedings, the prosecution indicated that, should the defendant testify, it would seek to introduce as impeachment evidence the defendant’s two prior felony convictions for murder and assault with a deadly weapon. The defendant moved in limine to prevent the introduction of the impeachment evidence. In denying the motion, the trial court held that it did not have discretion under California’s recently enacted Proposition 8 to exclude the prior…