Opinion ID: 2585418
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whitesell's Mental Health History

Text: Prior to trial, the court ordered that Julie's references to Whitesell's prior mental health history and hospitalizations be limited to identifying where he was at. Whitesell argues that the order was violated on several occasions. Specifically, he argues that Julie violated the order when she testified that after a 1991 argument, she felt like he was anticipating either suicide or killing me. Julie further testified that Whitesell was very upset and suicidal. Detective Varnell also testified to things which Julie had told him, specifically that Whitesell had been in the hospital nine times before and has tried suicide once. Detective Moreland testified that Julie said that [Whitesell] had been hospitalized before and he'd had ... homicidal thoughts. Again, although Whitesell points out testimony which may have allegedly violated the pretrial order in limine, he does not provide any analysis explaining how the violations prejudiced him. Julie's direct testimony was not in violation of the pretrial order. Her comments regarding Whitesell being suicidal were not meant to be a clinical diagnosis or any comment on Whitesell's mental health, but relate to her fear of him and represent her lay perception of his mental state. The comments by Varnell and Moreland cross the line set out by the trial court in this matter concerning Whitesell's mental health history. The trial court specifically limited any discussion of Whitesell's mental history to Julie's comments regarding his location and mentioning that Whitesell had been hospitalized nine times; had been hospitalized before; and that he had tried suicide once violated the order of the trial court. The impact of the violations, however, was slight, given the overall evidence against Whitesell. The trial court is in the best position to determine the degree of prejudice that the violations caused. We cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to grant a mistrial.