S-24-0367 and S-24-0368 State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. James Sawyer (Appellant)
Appeal from the District Court for Douglas County, Judge J. Russell Derr
Attorneys: Natalie M. Andrews (Chandler ǀ Conway, P.C., LLO for Appellant) and Melissa R. Vincent (Asst. Attorney General for Appellee)
Criminal: First-degree murder, first-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, use of a firearm to commit a felony, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, and discharging a firearm at an inhabited house, occupied building, or occupied motor vehicle.
Proceedings below: Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree assault, two counts of attempted first-degree assault, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, two counts of attempted first-degree assault, five counts of use of a firearm to commit a felony, and two counts of discharging a firearm at an inhabited house, occupied building, or occupied motor vehicle. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for first-degree murder, and on the remaining felonies, he received an aggregate sentence of two-hundred-ten (210) to two-hundred sixty-five (265) years’ imprisonment. Life imprisonment cases are direct appeals to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Issues: Appellant assigns the following errors: 1) Trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I Sections 3 and 11 of the Nebraska Constitution by failing to file and litigate a motion to suppress evidence resulting from a search of Appellant’s cell phone and records as the search violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and Article I Sections 3 and 7 of the Nebraska Constitution; 2) Trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I Sections 3 and 11 of the Nebraska Constitution by failing to pursue a motion to suppress evidence from a search of Appellant’s Facebook account as the search violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and Article I Sections 3 and 7 of the Nebraska Constitution; 3) Trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I Sections 3 and 11 of the Nebraska Constitution by failing to object to Exhibit 60 that contained out of court statements attributed to Mary Lincoln asserting that the suspect was wearing dark clothing, utilizing an AK-47, shooting out the passenger side of the suspect vehicle, on February 5, 2019, thereby identifying the Appellant as said testimony constitutes inadmissible hearsay and violated the confrontation clauses of both the United States and Nebraska Constitutions; 4) Trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I Sections 3 and 11 of the Nebraska Constitution by failing to object to jails calls, Exhibits 69 and 525, between the Appellant and Dayton Veland that contained out of court statements as said testimony constitutes inadmissible hearsay and violated the confrontation clauses of both the United States and Nebraska Constitutions; 5) Trial counsel was ineffective in its performance in failing to object per §§ 27-1002, 27-701, and 27-602 to law enforcement officers’ interpretation of the surveillance video ident6ifying the Appellant; 6) The trial court erred when it consolidated dockets CR19-1045 and CR 19-1318 as the two cases were not related and the joinder of the two matters subjected Appellant to reversible prejudicial error; and 7) Trial counsel provided Appellant with prejudicial ineffective assistance of counsel in the failure to obtain an additional competency evaluation of Appellant prior to him being sentenced by the trial court.