Opinion ID: 1788253
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: references to previous trial

Text: Brooks also argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial based on the State's repeated references to his previous trial. After a review of the challenged comments in the context of the entire record, we determine that the references to Brooks' previous trial were plainly inadvertent and almost inscrutable since they were made during the course of complicated sequences of questions regarding prior statements by witnesses in this matter. Moreover, none revealed that Brooks had been convicted. On this basis, we conclude that the trial court did not err in refusing to grant Brooks' motion for mistrial. Compare Jackson v. State, 545 So.2d 260, 263 (Fla.1989) (determining that prosecution's intentional solicitation of testimony regarding the appellant's prior conviction was reversible error) with Sireci v. State, 587 So.2d 450, 452 (Fla.1991) (determining that refusal to grant mistrial based on prosecutor's reference to appellant's time on death row was not in error where the record reflected that the impact of merely mentioning a prior death sentence was negligible).