7th Circuit rules supervision is not 'confinement' when considering prior conviction.

• Date: 15 September 2008
• Author: Ziemer, David
• Published date: 15 September 2008
• Author: Ziemer, David

Byline: David Ziemer

Supervision after serving a prison term is not confinement, when calculating whether a prior conviction can be used to impeach a witness.

However, the Sept. 4 opinion by the Seventh Circuit declined to address what impact revocation of supervision would have on the admissibility of the underlying conviction.

In 1993, Anthony Rogers was convicted of distribution of cocaine. He was released from prison in 1994, but remained on supervision until 1999.

In 2005, he was tried on firearm offenses in Indiana federal court, and testified in his own defense.

The government successfully impeached him with his prior conviction, and he was found guilty.

On appeal, in an opinion by Judge Diane S. Sykes, the Seventh Circuit agreed with Rogers that the prior conviction was improperly used to impeach him, but found the error harmless.

Federal Rule of Evidence 609(b) provides that, as a general rule, evidence of a prior conviction is not admissible if a period of more...