United States v. Robert Nello Brackeen

This court has convened en banc to determine whether bank robbery necessarily involves “dishonesty,” as that term is used in Federal Rule of Evidence 609(a)(2). The question arises in the context of whether a witness can be impeached by evidence of prior convictions. Faced with intra-circuit precedents which provide irreconcilably conflicting answers to the question, the original pane! called sua sponte for en banc review. See Atonio v. Wards Cove Packing Co., 810 F.2d 1477, 1479 (9th Cir.1987) (en banc), rev’d on other grounds, 490 U.S. 642, 109 S.Ct. 2115, 104 L.Ed.2d 733 (1989). We now…