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US govt not opposed to exclude evidence of defendant’s four prior criminal convictions
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Posted on Jan 16 2012
The U.S. government does not oppose a motion to exclude evidence of prior criminal convictions of Melvin David Diaz, a 49-year-old Guam resident who is facing charges for impregnating a minor girl on Rota.
Assistant U.S. attorney Clyde Lemons Jr. said the prosecution does not object to Diaz’s motion and does not intend to introduce at trial defendant’s prior convictions.
Lemons informed the U.S. District Court for the NMI last Wednesday that a provision of Federal Rules of Evidence permits a conviction to be introduced against any witness regardless of whether it is a misdemeanor or felony, only if the offense involves a crime of dishonesty.
Lemon said none of Diaz’s prior convictions involve such an offense.
Lemons said another provisions of the Federal Rules of Evidence permit evidence of similar cases in sexual assault cases and in child molestation cases.
None of the defendant’s convictions, the prosecutor said, involve such offenses.
Diaz, through counsel, asserted that his prior four convictions should not be admitted for impeachment either as two convictions are time barred, and the other are for misdemeanors.
The district court last month set the jury trial of Diaz to Feb. 6, 2012 in order for the U.S. government’s expert to recover from an unexpected illness.
The jury trial was originally set for Dec. 27, 2011.
Diaz is charged with three counts of enticement of a minor and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
According to the indictment, between Aug. 1, 2010 and Sept. 30, 2010, Diaz traveled from Guam to the CNMI for the purpose of engaging in illicit sex with the minor.
