People v. Hernandez

This defendant persuaded the trial court to exclude evidence that he had committed a prior bad act. The issue now before us is whether the defendant’s own direct examination testimony introduced the subject to the jury, thus opening the door for the prosecution to cross-examine the defendant on the prior bad act and introduce rebuttal testimony that the prior bad act did occur. We agree with the defendant that his testimony on direct examination did not introduce the prior bad act and that evidence of the prior bad act should not have been admitted at trial. We therefore reverse the…