S-17-0196, State v. James Cotton (Appellant)
District Court of Douglas County, Honorable Gary B. Randall
Attorneys: Nathan A. Liss (Attorney General’s Office) – Matthias J. Kraemer (Public Defender’s Office) (Appellant)
Criminal: 1st degree murder; use of deadly weapon to commit felony; possession of deadly weapon by prohibited person; possession of controlled substance
Proceedings below: Following a jury trial, Appellant was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Issues: 1) The district court erred by denying Appellant’s request to sever Count IV from the Amended Information and in finding Count IV joinable under Neb. Rev. Stat. §29-2002, 2) Appellant’s trial counsel was ineffective for failing to withdraw due to a conflict of interest that negatively affected trial counsel’s representation of Appellant and made his continued representation of Appellant unethical, 3) the district court erred in finding Appellant’s conviction of first degree murder to be supported by sufficient evidence, 4) Appellant’s trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request a mistrial when State witness Travis Labno showed up to court to testify after he had already been declared unavailable and had his deposition read into the record, 5) the district court erred by denying Appellant’s motion for a new trial based on prosecutorial misconduct, 6) Appellant’s trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to instances of prosecutorial misconduct during losing argument and in failing to object to improper questioning by the State, 7) the district court erred by admitting evidence obtained in a search that went beyond the scope of the warrant, 8) Appellant’s trial counsel was ineffective for offering the deposition of Jeff Faye at trial, 9) Appellant’s trial counsel was ineffective for failing to cross examine Dr. Linde, 10) Appellant’s trial counsel was ineffective for failing to call Lindsey Redinbaugh as a witness, and 11) Appellant’s trial counsel was ineffective due to issues raised by Appellant during allocution at Appellant’s sentencing hearing.