S-22-0169 State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. Keith L. Allen (Appellant)
Appeal from the District Court for Lincoln County, Judge Richard A. Birch
Attorneys: Charles D. Brewster (Anderson, Klein, Brewster & Brandt for Appellant) and Jordan A. Osborne (Asst. Attorney General for Appellee).
Criminal: First-Degree Murder and Use of a Weapon to Commit a Felony
Proceedings below: A jury convicted Appellant of First-Degree Murder and Use of a Weapon to Commit a Felony for which he was sentenced to life in prison and twenty (20) to thirty (30) years in prison, respectively. Life imprisonment cases are automatic and direct appeals to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Issues: Appellant makes the following assignments of error: 1) The trial court erred by not granting Appellant’s Motion For New Trial; 2) The trial court erred by not receiving Appellant's evidence at the hearing on Appellant’s Motion For New Trial; 3) The trial court erred in finding that juror’s statements during deliberations regarding the victim’s family were not extraneous prejudicial evidence or sufficient evidence to prove jury misconduct; 4) The trial court erred by ruling that Appellant's evidence of juror misconduct at the Motion for New Trial was not extraneous prejudicial evidence; 5) The trial court erred by finding that Appellant did not meet his burden of proving jury misconduct through his evidence submitted to the court at the hearing on his Motion for New Trial; 6) The trial court erred by not conducting an investigation into the Appellant’s claim of jury misconduct upon being informed of the alleged misconduct; 7) The trial court erred when jurors considered the potential revenge of the victim’s family members if the jury returned a verdict of not guilty; 8) The trial court erred when the jury failed to follow the court’s instructions; 9) The evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to sustain a conviction for First Degree Murder and Use of a Firearm to Commit a Felony because a rational trier of fact could not have concluded that Appellant killed the victim purposely and with deliberate and premeditated malice, and not in self-defense; and 10) That the Appellant suffered irreparable prejudice by virtue of ineffective assistance of trial counsel prior to and during the course of the trial in the matter by (1) failing to call a key eye witness to the incident in question; and (2) failing to object to and stipulating to the admission of scientific evidence offered by the State in the form of testimony concerning the autopsy and cause of death of the alleged victim of the crime for which the Appellant was charged.