In People v. Montgomery, 47 Ill. 2d 510, 516, 268 N.E.2d 695 (1971), our supreme court cited Federal Rule of Evidence 609 in holding that a prior conviction may be used to impeach a witness when the following conditions are met: (1) the prior conviction was punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year, or it involved dishonesty or a false statement; (2) the date of conviction or release of the witness from confinement, whichever is later, is no more than 10 years before trial. The trial court must, in its discretion, determine that the probative value of the prior conviction outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice. Montgomery, 47 Ill. 2d at 517. In performing the balancing test, the court should consider the nature of the prior crimes, the length of the criminal record, the age and circumstances of the defendant, and "the extent to which it is more important to the search for truth in a particular case for the jury to hear the defendant's story than to know of a prior conviction." Montgomery, 47 Ill. 2d at 518.