A-18-892, State v. Kuhfahl (Appellant)
Lancaster County, District Court Judge Andrew R. Jacobsen
Attorney for Appellant: Timothy S. Noerrlinger
Attorney for Appellee: Douglas J. Peterson, Matthew Lewis (Attorney General’s Office)
Criminal Action: First Degree Sexual Assault of a Child
Action Taken by Trial Court: Following a jury trial, the appellant was convicted of first degree sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 25 to 30 years’ imprisonment.
Assignments of Error on Appeal: The appellant contends that that there was insufficient evidence to support the verdict and he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Specifically, he contends that trial counsel: (1) failed to adequately cross-examine the victim to highlight inconsistencies in her previous statements; (2) failed to impeach the State’s witnesses concerning his relationship with the victim’s mother to show bias and motive to lie about the sexual assault; (3) failed to investigate after appellant told his trial counsel about an impeachment witness who heard the victim’s mother say that she was going to “set up” appellant for the offense; and (4) failed to object to Facebook messages received at trial as irrelevant and containing hearsay statements.