United States v. Douglas F. Brown, A/K/A Douglas Brown

Appellant, who was convicted of possession of a sawed-off shotgun, 1 rais es a number of issues, only one of which deserves comment. 2 Before trial, appointed defense counsel apprised the court of appellant’s prior criminal record, 3 and inquired whether any of appellant’s prior convictions would be admissible to impeach him. The court ruled it would only admit the most recent conviction — for assault with intent to commit robbery in 1968. The trial judge thus appears to have exercised his discretion, foreclosing any challenge to the 1970 amendments to the Luck statute in this case. 4 Defense…