S-15-0684, State v. Tracy N. Parnell (Appellant)
Douglas County District Court, Hon. Gary B. Randall
Attorneys: Douglas J. Peterson and Stacey M. Foust (Attorney General's Office);
Thomas C. Riley, Allyson A. Mendoza, & Mary Mullin Dvorak (Public Defender's Office) (Appellant)
Criminal: 1st Degree Murder; evidence
Proceedings below: Following trial by jury, Appellant was convicted of all five counts as charged in the Information. Appellant was sentenced as follows: Count I Life Imprisonment, Count II, not less than 40 years nor more than 50 years imprisonment, Count III not less than 40 years nor more than 50 years imprisonment, Count IV not less than 40 years nor more than 50 years imprisonment, and Count V not less than 3 years nor more than 20 years imprisonment. All sentences to be served consecutively.
Issue: The district court erred in 1) overruling Appellant's motion to continue or exclude the State's expert testimony on cell phone mapping based on newly discovered evidence of a contrary expert opinion received by the State, 2) admitting Nakia Johnson's testimony concerning Appellant's prior bad act finding it was inextricably intertwined to the instant offense and is not subject to Neb. Rev. Stat. ' 27-404(2), 3) overruling Appellant's motion for new trial finding the newly discovered evidence was immaterial and could have been discovered through reasonable diligence and presented at trial, and 4) refusing to instruct the jury regarding accomplice testimony where it was warranted by the evidence. Appellant further assigned error 5) that he was denied effective assistance of counsel by trial counsel's failure to call a defense expert to testify in opposition to the State's expert.