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SALT LAKE CITY —A woman accused of ramming her SUV into her husband should be allowed to present a new defense of "extreme emotional distress," the state's high court ruled Tuesday.
A trial court should reconsider whether the woman should be able to include jury instructions regarding "extreme emotional distress" as part of her case, the state's high court ruled Tuesday.
Brenda Christine White, 35, who is charged with attempted murder, a first-degree felony, and criminal mischief, a second-degree felony, in connection with the April 26, 2006 incident, had the right to use the argument because it is an "affirmative defense," the Utah Supreme Court determined. The case was sent back to a trial court to reconsider allowing jury instructions regarding such a defense.
Jurors could potentially consider a less-serious attempted manslaughter conviction instead of attempted murder.
"When a criminal defendant requests a jury instruction regarding (an affirmative defense), the court is obligated to give the instruction if evidence has been presented … that provides any reasonable basis upon which a jury could conclude that the affirmative defense applies to the defendant," the ruling states.
Before the alleged incident, White and her ex-husband, Jon White, had been arguing about money, child custody and other matters. White believed her former husband was having an affair and was addicted to pornography.
"These behaviors caused Ms. White to experience feelings of great anxiety, anger and agitation, and they eventually led to the couple’s divorce," according to the ruling.
Prosecutors say Brenda White tried to talk to her ex-husband at his workplace about refinancing the home she'd won in their subsequent divorce. When he refused to sign certain documents, she apparently called the man a "parasite" and told him "she was going to wipe him off the earth."
She left, but returned four hours later, chased her husband in her vehicle as he ran for cover on foot, smashed the SUV through a Salt Lake office building's glass door and hit her husband, throwing him about 10 feet.
She then pursued him once he got up and ran into him again, prosecutors say.
White's attorney argued that Brenda White was under extreme emotional distress at the time, due to severe economic pressures stemming from the couple's separation, the discovery that her husband had been having an affair and the death of a health-care provider. The lawyer also said White was sleep deprived, under the influence of several prescription medications and, on the day of the incident, experienced a sudden and extreme loss of self-control upon seeing her ex-husband talking on a cell phone that he had previously denied owning.
Brenda White's lawyer previously filed a motion in 3rd District Court to permit her to include extreme emotional distress in her defense, but it was denied on the district court level. The judge said the difficulties that White faced were not uncommon in divorces.
The Utah Court of Appeals agreed with the district court judge, but the Utah Supreme Court said it erred, because they required Brenda White "to demonstrate a 'highly provocative' and 'contemporaneous' triggering event to obtain a jury instruction on the extreme emotional distress defense."
"This standard imposes too high of a burden on defendants to assert this affirmative defense …," the ruling states.
The high court turned the case over to the Utah Court of Appeals, which has been asked to, in turn, return it to the trial court to reevaluate the issue.
White's case had been delayed pending the appeal. Her ex-husband has remarried, moved to Iowa and has custody of their two young daughters.
Email:emorgan@ksl.com
