In People v. Rist (1976) 16 Cal.3d 211, the court held that the trial court's denial of the defendant's motion for exclusion of evidence of prior convictions was not only an abuse of discretion but was not a true exercise of discretion at all. The court stated that it could not determine the degree of prejudice suffered by the defendant as a result of the court's error because the defendant might have testified had his motion been granted, and the court could not presume to know what his testimony might have been. "It is thus not possible for us to determine on the record before us the degree of prejudice suffered by defendant because of the court's error in failing to grant his motion, and the usual tests for concluding that an error requires the reversal of a judgment of conviction are not applicable." (Ibid.) The Court held that a trial court's admission of a prior robbery conviction to impeach a defendant accused of robbery was an abuse of discretion. The court reasoned: "A jury which is made aware of a similar prior conviction will inevitably feel pressure to conclude that if an accused committed the prior crime he likely committed the crime charged." (Rist, at p. 219.) The court reiterated its observation in People v. Beagle (1972) that similar prior convictions should be admitted sparingly. (Rist, at p. 220.)