S-20-0856 State v. Andres Surber (Appellant)
Dakota County District Court, Judge Bryan C. Meismer
Attorneys: Nathan A. Liss (Attorney General’s Office) --- Todd W. Lancaster (Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy) (Appellant)
Criminal: 1st degree murder; use of firearm to commit felony; possession of firearm by prohibited person; competency; evidence
Proceedings below: Following a jury trial, Appellant was convicted and sentenced to an aggregate sentence of life plus 50 to 100 years imprisonment.
Issues: Whether the district court erred in 1) finding Appellant competent for trial on August 24, 2020, 2) finding that there were exceptions to the exclusionary rule and allowing evidence at trial which should have been suppressed based on faulty warrants in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, Art. I, §§ 7 and 12 of the Nebraska Constitution, and Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 29-812, et seq. (Reissue 2016), including: A) finding exceptions to the warrant requirement and allowing evidence at trial found in a Chevy Impala that was searched as a result of an invalid warrant, and B.) finding exceptions to the warrant requirement and allowing evidence found at a residence in Wakefield that was searched as a result of a faulty warrant, and 3) finding the second searches of the Impala and the Denali were valid when the evidence used to obtain the warrants was based upon illegally seized evidence.