Malone

Defendant Shawta D. Malone was charged with possession of a check with intent to defraud and second degree burglary. Defendant’s first trial ended in a mistrial with the jury hopelessly deadlocked.

On retrial, defendant was convicted on both counts. Also, the trial court found true allegations defendant had a prior conviction that qualified as a strike and that he had served a prior prison term. The court sentenced him to five years in state prison.

The sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred during the second trial when it allowed the People to read defendant’s testimony from the first trial to the jury after the defendant elected not to testify. Defendant’s prior testimony included defendant’s admission of his prior convictions. We conclude this evidence was properly before the jury. We shall affirm.

I

The First Trial

Defendant testified at the first trial. On direct and cross-examination, he admitted that he had been convicted of burglary in 1997 and that in March 2000, he took a cassette tape from Tower Records without paying for it.

II

The Second Trial

During pretrial proceedings in defendant’s second trial, the court ruled that if defendant…