## Facts

- The United States charged Emmanuel Patterson in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with bank robbery.
- Patterson informed the court that he planned to testify in his own defense.
- Before trial, the government filed a motion in limine under Federal Rule of Evidence 609 seeking permission to impeach Patterson, if he testified, with three prior convictions.
- The convictions were approximately nine years old and were for carrying a gun without a license, conspiracy, and robbery.
- Patterson filed his own motion in limine asking the court to exclude those prior convictions from use as impeachment evidence.
- The parties’ dispute concerned whether Rule 609 permitted use of the convictions for impeachment and, if so, what limits were needed to reduce unfair prejudice.

## Issues

1. Under Federal Rule of Evidence 609, may the government impeach a testifying bank-robbery defendant with prior felony convictions that are about nine years old (carrying a gun without a license, conspiracy, and robbery), and if so, under what limits?

## Decision

- The court ruled on the parties’ cross-motions in limine regarding impeachment by prior conviction under Federal Rule of Evidence 609.
- The court permitted impeachment to the extent Rule 609 allowed for a criminal defendant who testifies, applying Rule 609’s balancing of impeachment value against the risk of unfair prejudice.
- The court limited how the prior convictions could be used at trial to reduce the risk the jury would treat them as evidence of guilt rather than as evidence bearing only on credibility.

## Legal Principles

- Under Federal Rule of Evidence 609(a)(1), a felony conviction may be used to impeach a witness; when the witness is the criminal defendant, the conviction is admissible only if the probative value of the evidence on credibility outweighs its prejudicial effect to that defendant.
- Rule 609(a)(2) provides for admission of convictions only when proving the offense requires establishing a dishonest act or false statement; offenses such as robbery, conspiracy, and unlawful gun possession generally do not qualify merely because they are serious crimes.
- The age of a conviction affects the weight of its impeachment value; as convictions approach the ten-year mark, their probative value typically diminishes, and Rule 609(b) imposes a higher bar for convictions that fall outside the ten-year period (measured from the later of the conviction date or release from confinement).
- Even when a conviction is admissible for impeachment, the trial court may restrict the manner of proof (for example, limiting details) and may use limiting instructions to reduce the chance the jury will misuse the evidence.

## Conclusion

In *United States v. Patterson*, 2009 WL 3423839 (E.D. Pa. 2009), the court addressed pretrial motions in limine in a bank-robbery case where Emmanuel Patterson intended to testify and the government sought to impeach him under Rule 609 with three roughly nine-year-old convictions for carrying a gun without a license, conspiracy, and robbery; applying Rule 609’s admissibility standards and balancing, the court allowed impeachment only within Rule 609’s limits and imposed restrictions aimed at minimizing unfair prejudice.


United States v. Patterson, 2009 WL 3423839 (2009)