Felix

Fred John Felix and David Walter Pedrico were each convicted of four counts of robbery (Pen. Code, § 211) and three counts of false imprisonment (§ 236). Felix was found to have personally used a firearm in three of the robberies. All the charges arose from the armed robbery of a supermarket by two men. The defense for both defendants was misidentification, and neither testified. Over defense objection, evidence was admitted that defendants had pled guilty to robbery of a restaurant, committed together before the charged crimes. We conclude admission of this prior crime was error, but was prejudicial only as to Pedrico.

Facts

About 7 p.m. on November 9, 1989, two men entered the office of a Lucky’s supermarket. The larger of the two was carrying a rifle or shotgun. They led two store employees, Elizabeth Taber and Thomas Wolf, to the checkout area. Threatening use of the gun, they took money from various registers, including those being operated by Joseph Kane, Tanya Garrison and Justin Summer. The robbers took the money, ordered everyone to the back of the store and left.

Taber, Wolf and Kane testified. All three identified Felix as the larger robber. Wolf described…