S-21-0980 State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. Bailey M. Boswell (Appellant)
Appeal from the District Court for Saline County, Judge Vicky L. Johnson
Attorneys: Todd W. Lancaster (Commission on Public Advocacy for Appellant) and Stacy M. Foust (Asst. Attorney General for Appellee)
Criminal: First Degree Murder, Improper Disposal of Human Skeletal Remains, and Criminal Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder
Proceedings below: Appellant was convicted and sentenced for First Degree Murder (life imprisonment), Improper Disposal of Human Skeletal Remains (two to two year prison sentence), and Criminal Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder (fifty year to fifty year prison sentence). Life imprisonment cases are automatic and direct appeals to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Issues: On appeal, Appellant makes the following assignments of error: 1) The court erred by allowing numerous gruesome photograph over Boswell’s objections based on Neb. Rev. Stat. § 27-404 and 403; 2) The court erred by allowing evidence about sexual fantasies, discussions of deviant sexual practices, discussions of torture during sex, descriptions of sexual conduct, and evidence of sexual toys or devises over Boswell’s objections based on Neb. Rev. Stat. § 27-404 and 403; 3) The court erred in allowing evidence concerning evidence of witchcraft, the occult and supernatural powers over Boswell’s objection based on Neb. Rev. Stat. § 27-404 and 403; and 4) The court erred by allowing evidence of statements made by Aubrey Trail to Ashley Hills (Hills), Anna Golyakova (Golyakova), and Kaitlyn Brandle (Brandle) to be submitted as statements of a conspirator under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 27-801 and: a) Allowing the State to use the coconspirator statements to prove the conspiracy, thus, violating the Nebraska bootstrapping prohibition in proving up a conspiracy; b) Allowing the statements from the coconspirator into evidence before a prima facia case that there was a conspiracy was proven; and c) Allowing statements as statements of a coconspirator that were not during or in the furtherance of the conspiracy.