S-22-0102 State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. Karl J. Dailey (Appellant)
Appeal from the District Court for Dawes County, Judge Derek C. Weimer, on appeal thereto from the County Court for Dawes County, Judge Randin R. Roland
Attorneys: Charles D. Brewster and Carson K. Messersmith (Anderson, Klein, Brewster & Brandt for Appellant) and Nathan A. Liss (Assistant Attorney General for Appellee).
Criminal: Official Misconduct
Proceedings below: The district court affirmed the county court’s conviction and sentence of a $750 fine finding Appellant, the Sheriff of Dawes County, guilty of official misconduct for failing to accept a lawfully committed person into the jail. On its own motion, the Supreme Court ordered this case to be transferred from the docket of the Court of Appeals to its docket.
Issues: Appellant makes the following assignments of error: 1) The trial court erred by finding that there was sufficient evidence to prove the Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge of Official Misconduct as defined by Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-924 and Neb. Rev. Stat. § 23-1703; 2) The trial court erred by finding that when a law enforcement officer arrests a person, that arrest gives the officer authority to lawfully commit that person to a county jail; 3) The trial court erred by finding that the Appellant was required by law to accept an arrestee, J.S., into his jail pursuant to Neb. Rev. Stat. § 23-1703; 4) The trial court erred by finding that an order of a court or magistrate is not necessary for a person to be “lawfully committed” to a county jail as described in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 23-1703; 5) The trial court erred by finding the Appellant violated Neb. Rev. Stat. § 23-1703 when there was no evidence that any law enforcement officer actually presented arrestee J.S. to the Dawes County Jail for incarceration by the Appellant at his jail after medical clearance was obtained; 6) The trial court erred by finding that the Appellant could not legally refuse arrestee J.S. as a prisoner or inmate in his jail due to Appellant’s jail facility having no capacity to treat prisoner’s medical injuries, and by not finding that Appellant had authority to refuse a prisoner or inmate due to the extraordinary capacity of the inmate to be violent and dangerous when Appellant’s facility was not equipped or staffed to safely house such an individual as a prisoner, all according to Nebraska Jail Standards; and 7) The District Court, as an appellate court, failed to reverse the decision of the trial court and then remand the case with orders to dismiss.