Justia Nebraska Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

David Kofoed, the supervisor of the Crime Scene Investigation Division for the sheriff's office was charged with tampering with evidence during the investigation of two suspects in two 2006 murders. After a Neb. R. Evid. 404 hearing, the trial court admitted evidence of an uncharged extrinsic crime during the 2003 investigation of a child's murder. The trial court subsequently found Kofoed guilty of evidence tampering during the 2006 murder investigation. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding, inter alia, (1) the trial court did not err in sustaining the State's motion to admit evidence of Kofoed's alleged act of evidence tampering in 2003 during the Rule 404 hearing; (2) the court did not err in overruling Kofoed's motion for a directed verdict and in finding him guilty of tampering with evidence; and (3) the trial judge did not err in failing to recuse himself from the proceeding and in overruling Kofoed's motion for a new trial. View "State v. Kofoed" on Justia Law

Roger McCannon died in an accident while working for Appellee T.O. Hass Tire Company. Christy Spitz, with whom McCannon lived for several years, sought workers' compensation death benefits. The trial judge dismissed Spitz' claim that she was McCannon's surviving spouse after applying Colorado law to find that Spitz was not McCannon's common-law wife. The review panel affirmed. The Supreme Court also affirmed, holding that the trial court was not clearly wrong in finding that the vast majority of objective evidence showed that Spitz and McCannon did not intend to create a common-law marriage and did not conduct their affairs as though a common-law marriage existed. View "Spitz v. T.O. Haas Tire Co." on Justia Law