United States v. Billie Blaine Lipps

Billie Blaine Lipps was convicted by a jury of three counts of an indictment that charged him with violations of 18 U.S.C. § 922(h)(1), which prohibits the receipt by a convicted felon of a firearm that has been shipped in interstate commerce. The district court sentenced Lipps to three concurrent five-year sentences.

At trial Lipps stipulated that he was a convicted felon and that the firearms in question had been shipped in interstate commerce. The defendant filed a motion in limine to prevent the prosecution from impeaching Lipps with his four prior felony convictions for burglary and robbery. The trial court denied the motion; Lipps testified and the prior convictions were admitted.

The sole issue on appeal is whether the court erred in admitting evidence of the prior convictions. Fed.R.Evid. 609(a) states that evidence of a conviction is admissible to impeach a witness’ credibility if the crime was a felony “and the court determines that the probative value of admitting this evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect to the defendant.” The decision to admit or exclude evidence of prior convictions is committed to the discretion of the trial court and will only be reversed if…