NOTE: This story was updated at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2012 to include a link to a Press Democrat story on a tape in which murder suspect Jarrod Miller is said to admit to tossing a gun from his car.

A mental health professional who is expected as a defense witness in the murder trial of Jarrod Miller was called in to testify Tuesday during pretrial proceedings in Sonoma County Superior Court.

It was the first scheduled day of trial for Miller, 30, of Cloverdale, accused of killing his sister's boyfriend, former Healdsburg businessman Timothy Neuer, last March at the couple's Alexander Valley home just north of Healdsburg.

Also, in another pretrial proceeding, defense attorneys filed a motion to suppress at trial details of the car stop made by police following Neuer's murder.

 Police reports at the time of the murder said Miller was stopped by police near Windsor later that night.

According to an article in the Press Democrat, Miller admitted on tape to tossing a gun from his car before the police made the stop. The tape was played to the court Tuesday during an afternoon pretrial hearing.

To read the article, click here.

Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch, who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant District Attorney Scott Jamar, said she expects the trial to last for most of February.

Miller, looking subdued and much the same as he did during his arraignment and hearings last year, was present for Tuesday's pretrial proceedings. He is represented by attorney Joseph Bisbiglia.

Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Ken Gnoss said he will bring in panels of potential juries either Wednesday or Thursday to start the jury selection process. Voir dire, the questioning of potential jurors by attorneys from both sides, will begin either Friday or Monday.

It was not immediately clear when the actual trial would start, but it appeared likely that it would be sometime next week.

Among the pretrial proceedings Tuesday was a testimony from Dr. Thomas Cushing, who is on the witness list submitted by Bisbiglia, according to court testimony.

Cushing was called in Tuesday afternoon after Ravitch said she needed to hear what he would say about Miller's mental state since Cushing has not submitted a prior report.

Bisbiglia told Gnoss that Cushing's notes included references to "schizophrenia" and "strong paranoid features." But Ravitch told Gnoss that she needed to see either a full written report from Cushing or to hear his pretrial testimony so that she and Jamar could gauge their need for any limitations on testimony during trial.

"We need to make sure of what he plans to say that has  basis to the case and is relevant," Ravitch said later.

Although Bisbiglia argued that Cushing's testimony would be in line with an earlier, different psychologist's report on Miller's mental state, Ravitch said that wasn't acceptable since the earlier physician was not scheduled to be included as a witness in the trial.

"Mental state is an issue," Ravitch told Gnoss. "We're lodging an objection to any reference to mental state until we hear (from Cushing)."

There is also a defense motion to dismiss the burglary charges against Miller.

Many of the details of prosecution's case came to light in November during Miller's preliminary hearing. Those include testimony from a witness who said he was in the home shared by Neurer and Miller's sister Amanda Miller at the time of the incident.