A-15-1001 State v. Rosario Betancourt-Garcia (Appellant)
Madison County, Judge Mark A. Johnson
Attorneys: Mark D. Albin (Appellant) --- Austin N. Relph (Attorney General's Office)
Criminal: Kidnapping, Use of a Deadly Weapon (Firearm) to Commit a Felony; and Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping
Proceedings below: After a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of all charges. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on the kidnapping charge, 10 to 30 years' for Use of a Weapon, and 30 to 50 years' imprisonment on the Conspiracy charge. The Use of a Weapon sentence was ordered to be served consecutively while the Conspiracy sentence was ordered to be served concurrently.
Issues: The lower court erred in (1) failing to quash the amended information filed on May 21, 2013 as it showed on its face that the 3 year statute of limitations under Neb. Rev. Stat. 29-110 barred the State's prosecution; (2) failing to direct a verdict of acquittal as the State failed to adduce sufficient evidence to sustain the jury's verdict that Appellant was fleeing from justice to toll the statute of limitations. (3) Appellant received ineffective assistance of trial counsel based on the dismissal of his appeal of the lower court's ruling on his motion for absolute discharge, thereby waiving his right to challenge Counts I and II of the Complaint on Speedy Trial grounds. 4. The lower court erred in failing to take into account any mitigating factors in sentencing Appellant to life in prison for Kidnapping, rather than a term of years.