A-20-0730, State of Nebraska v. Jeffrey Ehrlich (Appellant)
District Court for Saunders County, District Judge Christina M. Marroquin
Attorney for Appellant: Thomas James Klein (Haessler Sullivan Law Firm)
Attorney for Appellee: Siobhan E. Duffy (Attorney General’s Office)
Criminal Action: Assault on an officer, child abuse, terroristic threats, use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony
Action taken by the Trial Court: A jury trial was held in Seward County after a change of venue. The jury convicted Ehrlich of third degree assault on an officer, two counts of terroristic threats, two counts of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony related to the terroristic threats charges, and one count of child abuse. The jury acquitted Ehrlich of another charge terroristic threats and the related use of a deadly weapon charge. Finally, the jury deadlocked and was unable to reach a verdict on a charge of attempted first degree murder and the related use of a deadly weapon charge, and the trial court declared a mistrial as to those charges. For the convictions of assault on an officer in the third degree, terroristic threats, and child abuse, the court sentenced Ehrlich to 1 year of imprisonment each. For each conviction of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, the court sentenced Ehrlich to a period of 5 to 6 years’ imprisonment. The court ordered all of the 1 year sentences to run concurrently with each other. It ordered that the sentence for one of the use of a deadly weapon convictions to be served consecutively to the 1 year sentences, and it ordered the sentence for the other use of a deadly weapon conviction to run consecutively to the sentences for all counts. The court granted Ehrlich 419 days’ credit for time served.
Assignments of Error on Appeal, Combined, Reordered and Restated: Was the evidence insufficient to convict Ehrlich of the charges of terroristic threats, use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, and child abuse? Did the trial court impose sentences that were excessive and constituted an abuse of discretion by the trial court?
Facts: The charges against Ehrlich arose out of incidents occurring in August 2019. First, Ehrlich engaged in a physical altercation with his 16-year-old son, during which Ehrlich pushed him against a porch railing and punched him in the face. The son called someone who picked him up from Ehrlich’s residence. Ehrlich then accosted an individual outside. Ehrlich followed this person, while yelling and holding a baseball bat. Neighbors who observed this encounter contacted law enforcement. When police arrived, they were unable to locate Ehrlich, but while talking to neighbors, police observed Ehrlich drive up in a semi-truck. Ehrlich got out of the truck, wielding a baseball bat, and engaged in a verbal and physical altercation with police officers. At one point, he returned to the semi-truck, driving it aggressively toward one officer before driving it into two parked police cruisers. Erhlich got back out of the truck and engaged in further verbal and physical altercations with the police before being subdued and handcuffed.