Impeachment Using Conviction of Crime (N.C.R. Evid. 609)
"The language of Rule 609(a) ('shall be admitted') is mandatory, leaving no room for the trial court's discretion. Moreover, while N.C. R. Evid. 609(b) requires a balancing test of the probative value and prejudicial effect of a conviction more than ten years old, this provision is explicitly absent from 609(a). Indeed, the official comments to Rule 609(a) reveal an unequivocal intention to diverge from the federal requirement of a balancing test. State v. Brown, 357 N.C. 382, 390, 584 S.E.2d 278, 283 (2003), cert. denied, 540 U.S. 1194, 158 L. Ed. 2d 106 (2004).
"Rule 609 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence allows, for purposes of impeachment, the cross-examination of witnesses, including defendant, with respect to prior convictions. here, for purposes of impeachment, the witness has admitted a prior conviction, the time and place of the conviction and the punishment imposed may be inquired into upon cross-examination. [I]nquiry into prior convictions which exceeds limitations . . . is reversible error. State v. Bell, 338 N.C. 363, 381, 450 S.E.2d 710, 720 (1994) (citations and quotation marks omitted), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1163, 132 L. Ed. 2d 861 (1995).
"[A]lthough Rule 609 may permit certain evidence of a defendant's prior conviction to be admitted if the defendant testifies, it is error to admit evidence of the defendant's prior conviction when the defendant does not testify. State v. Badgett, 361 N.C. 234, 247, 644 S.E.2d 206, 214 (citations omitted), cert. denied, 552 U.S. 997, 169 L. Ed. 2d 351 (2007).