How hosting a national pandemic summit aided the Nebraska courts system with its COVID-19 response

When the novel coronavirus began sweeping across the U.S. earlier this year, Nebraska’s judicial system was better prepared to rapidly adjust its operations than some of its counterparts in other states.

May 13, 2020 6:00 AM CDT

Trials and tiaras: How do pageant winners fare as lawyers?

What are two activities where success comes from reading a room, speaking with authority and not appearing nervous, even if you are? Trying cases in court and also beauty pageants.

Apr 27, 2020 3:20 PM CDT

Utah is first state to grant diploma privilege during novel coronavirus pandemic

Because of the COVID-19 crisis, the Utah Supreme Court approved temporary diploma privilege Tuesday for individuals who are scheduled to take the July bar exam and graduated from ABA-accredited law schools with first-time bar passage rates of at least 86%.

Apr 22, 2020 11:05 AM CDT

First Amendment defense claims could threaten ‘revenge pornography’ statutes

Dec 19, 2019 6:30 AM CST

Murder suspect slashes his throat in court; trial resumes without him

A man being tried for the murder of his girlfriend’s Tinder date slashed his throat in a Nebraska courtroom Monday and tumbled from his wheelchair. Before slashing at his neck, 52-year-old Aubrey Trail had shouted, “Bailey is innocent, and I curse you all.” The Washington Post, the Omaha World-Herald, the…

Jun 25, 2019 12:52 PM CDT

In states where inmates can vote, few exercise their right to cast ballots

When Sen. Bernie Sanders championed voting rights for prisoners during a CNN town hall, he spotlighted an intensifying national debate about why going to prison means losing the right to vote.

Jun 14, 2019 7:30 AM CDT

Suspects wrongly persuaded of their guilt to share in $28M award after Supreme Court rejects cert

The case of the wrongly imprisoned “Beatrice Six” came to a close Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a Nebraska county’s appeal of a $28.1 million judgment for a reckless investigation by its sheriff’s department. The six murder defendants served an estimated, collective 70 years in prison…

Mar 6, 2019 4:26 PM CST

New York AG issues subpoenas to state’s 8 Catholic dioceses in sex abuse investigation

The New York attorney general’s office on Thursday issued subpoenas to the states’ eight Catholic dioceses less than a month after the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report that stated more than 1,000 children identified through the church’s own records were sexually abused by priests for decades. The Wall…

Sep 7, 2018 6:05 AM CDT

First execution using fentanyl carried out after 8th Circuit rejects appeal

Nebraska inmate Carey Dean Moore became the first person to be executed with the drug fentanyl on Tuesday after a federal appeals court rejected a drug company’s challenge to two other drugs used in the four-drug lethal cocktail. Moore, 60, was executed for killing two cab drivers in 1997, report…

Aug 14, 2018 1:44 PM CDT

Drugmaker’s lawsuit could halt Nebraska’s first lethal injection

The American arm of German drug manufacturer Fresenius Kabi has filed a lawsuit that could stop Nebraska’s first lethal injection.

Aug 9, 2018 5:26 PM CDT

Judge considers probation for man who robbed bank in hopes of receiving prison medical care

A Nebraska judge said Wednesday he wanted to consider probation for a homeless man who said he had robbed a bank in hopes of getting medical treatment in prison. The admitted robber, 54-year-old Terry Bailes, had worked at a manufacturer of farm equipment and forklifts for six years before developing…

Mar 9, 2018 10:19 AM CST

8 states file brief supporting the government’s attempt to deny abortions to immigrant minors

Eight states described as having “a legitimate and substantial interest in preserving and promoting fetal life” have weighed in on a lawsuit seeking to clear the way for immigrant minors in federal custody to have abortions. An amicus brief in Garza v. Hargan from the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan,…

Jan 9, 2018 4:02 PM CST

Judge delays execution because of concerns about drug in new cocktail

At least two states are planning to try new combinations of execution drugs that include the opioid painkiller fentanyl. One of those states is Nevada, which wants to use a combination of the sedative diazepam, fentanyl and the paralyzing agent cisatracurium, The Marshall Project reported last summer. Concerns about cisatracurium…

Nov 10, 2017 4:10 PM CST

Lawyer falsely claimed he was checking on ward who was no longer at facility, suspension order says

An Omaha, Nebraska, lawyer has received a one-year suspension for claiming in guardianship reports that he was checking on an incapacitated adult who, it turned out, had moved out of an assisted living facility without his knowledge. The Nebraska Supreme Court suspended Rodney Halstead in a Nov. 3 order (PDF),…

Nov 9, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Lawyers can accept payment in bitcoin, Nebraska ethics opinion says

Lawyers may accept payment in digital currencies such as bitcoin but must immediately convert the money into U.S. dollars, according to a Nebraska ethics advisory opinion. The opinion, issued Sept. 11, is the first by a state ethics body to address the ethics of bitcoin payments, the Norfolk Daily News…

Sep 18, 2017 3:58 PM CDT