Dissenting Opinion
Justice O'Connor contested the majority opinion, which held that introducing the facts of a defendant's prior conviction could be unfairly prejudicial. After all, Congress had made the fact of a prior conviction an element of the crime of being a felon in possession of a firearm. It therefore intended for a jury trying such a case to hear the facts of the defendant's prior crime. If the jury was not intended to hear the facts of a defendant's prior crime, certainly there was minimal risk that the jury would convict the defendant for an "improper" reason.
Read more about this topic: Old Chief V. United States
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