Trial Court Must Rule on Admissibility of Defendant’s Priors BEFORE He/She Hits

In an artful and learned opinion by Justice Kilbride the Illlinois Supreme Court ruled in two consolidated cases on 1/23/09 that a trial court’s “failure to rule on a motion in limine on the admissibility of prior convictions when it has sufficient information to make a ruling constitutes an abuse of discretion.  When applying the Montgomery rule before trial a trial judge will certainly be able to determine whether the prior crime was punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year, or involved dishonesty or false statements.  Likewise, a trial judge can readily ascertain whether less than 10 years  has (sic) elapsed since the date of conviction of the prior crime or release from confinement. Moreover, in all but the most complicated cases a judge will have enough information before trial to weigh the probative value of admitting the prior conviction against the danger of unfair prejudice to the defendant.”