Opinion ID: 1903008
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: witness emotional breakdown

Text: Thomas asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial when Elvord, the State's chief witness, suffered an emotional breakdown after the State asked her to identify the defendants at trial by standing next to them. [9] We have held that a ruling on a motion for mistrial is within the trial court's discretion and should not be reversed absent an abuse of that discretion. See Hamilton v. State, 703 So.2d 1038, 1041 (Fla.1997), cert. denied, 524 U.S. 956, 118 S.Ct. 2377, 141 L.Ed.2d 744 (1998); Merck v. State, 664 So.2d 939, 941 (Fla. 1995). A mistrial is appropriate only where the error is so prejudicial as to vitiate the entire trial. See Hamilton, 703 So.2d at 1041; Buenoano v. State, 527 So.2d 194, 198 (Fla.1988). It has been long established and continuously adhered to that the power to declare a mistrial and discharge the jury should be exercised with great care and caution and should be done only in cases of absolute necessity. See Salvatore v. State, 366 So.2d 745, 750 (Fla.1978). In reviewing motions for mistrial dealing with emotional outbursts from witnesses, appellate courts should defer to trial judges' judgments and rulings when they cannot glean from the record how intense a witness's outburst was. See Arbelaez v. State, 626 So.2d 169, 176 (Fla. 1993); Torres-Arboledo v. State, 524 So.2d 403, 409 (Fla.1988); Justus v. State, 438 So.2d 358, 366 (Fla.1983). In the instant case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in failing to grant Thomas's motion for a mistrial. Immediately after the breakdown, the judge stopped the trial and removed the jury immediately, and he did not resume the trial until Elvord had gathered herself completely. Notwithstanding this conclusion, we find the identification procedure attempted here requiring the victim to stand by the defendants to be unacceptable and unnecessary, especially in cases involving such intense emotions. Therefore, on remand, such an identification procedure should not be permitted.