People v. Buchanan

A jury found the defendant guilty of murdering Carl Ricks; the defendant was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.

As framed by the parties, the only issue on appeal is a narrow one — whether the trial court erred in barring the defendant’s testimony that he knew of Ricks’ two convictions for crimes indicative of violent character. The question here actually extends beyond this limited formulation, however, as defense counsel’s offers of proof and argument at trial show.

The testimony of several witnesses, made outside the jury’s presence, established that Ricks was convicted in 1963 for armed…