State v. Baptiste

I would not reach the claimed jury instruction issues but would reverse the judgment of the trial court and order a new trial on the issue that the court improperly permitted the state to cross-examine the defendant, Oles J. Baptiste, about his fourteen prior arrests for interfering with a police officer and misdemeanor convictions for interfering with police and engaging police officers in pursuit.1

*774Although the defendant objected to this cross-examination on the grounds of “relevancy, ” the majority holds that counsel should have used the magic word “prejudice.” When the defendant again…