The following excerpt is from U.S. v. James, 169 F.3d 1210 (9th Cir. 1999):
The law of this circuit is crystal-clear that corroboration of a key prosecution witness by the introduction of criminal records is permissible, even at the risk of some prejudice to the defendant on trial. United States v. Pitts, 6 F.3d 1366, 1370-71 (9th Cir.1993). We should not have one rule for the prosecution and another rule for the defense.
The crucial significance of this kind of corroboration has been recognized in a leading
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