Opinion ID: 1959135
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: extreme disturbance mitigator

Text: The trial court also concluded that the extreme mental or emotional disturbance mitigator was not proven. In the sentencing order, the trial court found the mental health expert's testimony on this issue not to be credible, and to be inconsistent with other, more credible, evidence. This Court has defined the circumstances under which a trial court may reject a mitigator: Whenever a reasonable quantum of competent, uncontroverted evidence of mitigation has been presented, the trial court must find that the mitigating circumstance has been proved. A trial court may reject a defendant's claim that a mitigating circumstance has been proved if the record contains competent substantial evidence to support the trial court's rejection of the mitigating circumstance. Spencer v. State, 645 So.2d 377, 385 (Fla. 1994) (citation omitted). We considered the issue of expert opinion testimony in Walls v. State, 641 So.2d 381 (Fla.1994), stating: Walls contends that the trial court improperly rejected expert opinion testimony that he was suffering extreme emotional disturbance and that his capacity to conform his conduct to the law's requirements was substantially impaired. In Florida as in many states, a distinction exists between factual evidence or testimony, and opinion testimony.... ... Certain kinds of opinion testimony clearly are admissibleand especially qualified expert opinion testimonybut they are not necessarily binding even if uncontroverted. Opinion testimony gains its greatest force to the degree it is supported by the facts at hand, and its weight diminishes to the degree such support is lacking. A debatable link between fact and opinion relevant to a mitigating factor usually means, at most, that a question exists for judge and jury to resolve. Id. at 390-91 (citations omitted). Thus, the trial court was entitled to evaluate and disregard Dr. Dee's opinion if the trial court felt that the opinion was unsupported by facts. The testimony that Nelson was seeing things on the day of the murder, that he suffered from hallucinations, and that he suffered from depression for many years provided perhaps the most relevant evidence to support this mitigator. However, the record reflects that the source of this evidence was largely Nelson's self-reports to Dr. Dee, and that the trial court basically rejected Dr. Dee's uncontroverted expert opinion. As the trial court stated, several witnesses who encountered Nelson before and after the murder testified that he was acting normally. The defendant's cousin, Calvin Fogle, testified that on the evening before the murder, Nelson did not appear unusual. The defendant's girlfriend, Reagis Ishmael, testified that on the evening before the murder, nothing seemed to be unusual or out of the ordinary about Nelson. Nelson's cousin, Andy Eiland, testified that he spent time with Nelson on the day before the murder from noon until 10:30 p.m. Eiland stated he observed Nelson drink one beer that evening, Nelson acted normal, and he did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Nelson's sister and brother-in-law, Juldy Bolton and Willy Bolton, testified that when they spent the evening with Nelson on the same day the murder occurred (after the murder), everything seemed normal. Nelson came over to their house, ate dinner, and played cards with the two of them. Thus, the evidence as it unfolded at trial supported the trial court's analysis and indicated that the crimes Nelson committed were unexpected and uncharacteristic of his behavior around that time. Nelson argues that the trial court made misstatements in the sentencing order regarding the extreme mental or emotional disturbance mitigator. However, even if the trial court did misstate some mitigation testimony, we find the misstatements not so substantial as to undermine the trial court's conclusion that this mitigator was not established by the greater weight of the evidence. See Bryant v. State, 785 So.2d 422, 431 (Fla.2001). The record reflects that there was competent, substantial evidence refuting the allegation that Nelson was under extreme mental or emotional disturbance.