California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Calderon, 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 333, 885 P.2d 83, 9 Cal.4th 69 (Cal. 1994):
4 If a defendant charged with being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm stipulates to being an ex-felon, the nature of the prior conviction will be withheld from the jury. (People v. Valentine, supra, 42 Cal.3d 170, 173, 228 Cal.Rptr. 25, 720 P.2d 913.) Whether advising the jury that the defendant had been convicted of a felony, without disclosing the nature of that felony, would render nonprejudicial the admission of evidence of that prior conviction for the purpose of sentence enhancement, so as to justify a unitary trial, will depend upon the circumstances of the particular case.
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