Is a prior felony conviction admissible to impeach a witness?

In deciding whether a prior felony conviction is admissible to impeach a witness, the trial court "cannot go behind the conviction and take evidence on or consider the facts and circumstances of the particular offense" (People v. Mansfield (1988) 200 Cal.App.3d 82, 87, 245 Cal.Rptr. [3 Cal.App.4th 423] 800), because that would result in a confusion of issues and unfair surprise to the defendant (People v. Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d at p. 317, 211 Cal.Rptr. 719, 696 P.2d 111). Instead, the court must look to the statutory definition of the particular crime to determine whether "the least adjudicated elements of the conviction necessarily involve moral turpitude" (ibid.), that is, whether they "necessarily evince any character trait which can reasonably be characterized as 'immoral' " (id., p. 317, fn. 13, 211 Cal.Rptr. 719, 696 P.2d 111).