S-23-0967 State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. Sirtommy J. Sutton (Appellant)
Appeal from the District Court for Douglas County, Judge Kimberly Miller Pankonin
Attorneys: Joseph L. Howard (Dornan, Troia, Howard, Breitkreutz, Dahlquist & Klein PC LLO for Appellant) and Melissa R. Vincent (Nebraska Attorney General’s Office for Appellee)
Criminal: Discharging a firearm at an occupied motor vehicle and use of a firearm to commit a felony
Proceedings Below: Appellant was charged four crimes: first-degree murder, two counts of use of a firearm to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm at an occupied motor vehicle. A jury acquitted him of first-degree murder and one count of use of a weapon to commit a felony, but it convicted him of discharging a firearm at an occupied motor vehicle and the other count of use of a firearm to commit a felony. He was given an aggregate sentence of fifteen (15) to twenty-four (24) years in prison. 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 on appeal: 1) The district court erred in admitting the defendant’s custodial interrogation statements as such were elicited in violation of the Fifth Amendment; 2) The district court abused its discretion by erroneously sentencing Appellant to an excessive sentence; and 3) The district court erred in finding that the racial make-up of the jury pool was not the result of systematic exclusion or purposeful discrimination of underrepresented racial minorities.