Old Chief v. United States
- Decided
- January 7, 1997
- Docket
- 95-6556
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 2,913 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- recognizing that stipulation “may be no match for the robust evidence that would be used to prove” the stipulated fact — United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui, A/K/A Shaqil, A/K/A Abu Khalid Al Sahrawi, Center for National Security Studies, Amicus Supporting (2004)
- holding that district court abuses its discretion under Fed. R.Evid. 403 when it refuses to permit defendant, charged under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1 — United States v. Marcresse McCoy A/K/A Mark Shinne A/K/A Mark Chin A/K/A Jerron McCoy Marcresse McCoy (2005)
- holding that Fed.R.Evid. 403 prohibits the Government from introducing the “name or nature” of a prior felony conviction in a § 922(g)(1 — United States v. Frank Williams (2006)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Justice Souter delivered the opinion of the Court.
Subject to certain limitations, 18 U. S. C. § 922(g)(1) prohibits possession of a firearm by anyone with a prior felony conviction, which the Government can prove by introducing a record of judgment or similar evidence identifying the previous offense. Fearing prejudice if the jury learns the nature of the earlier crime, defendants sometimes seek to avoid such an informative disclosure by offering to concede the fact of the prior conviction. The issue here is whether a district court abuses its discretion if it spurns such an offer and admits the full record of a prior judgment, when the name or nature of the prior offense raises the risk of a verdict tainted by improper considerations, and when the purpose of the evidence is solely to prove the element of prior conviction.[1] We hold that it does.
I
Statutes cited
Cite this
Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172 (1997)Read the full opinion
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