S-22-0443 State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. Majdal K. Elias (Appellant)
Appeal from the District Court for Lancaster County, Judge Lori A. Maret
Attorneys: Chad Wythers (Wythers Law Firm for Appellant) and Stacy Foust (Asst. Attorney General for Appellee)
Criminal: Second-Degree Murder, Use of a Firearm to Commit a Felony, Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm, Character Evidence, and Motion to Suppress
Proceedings below: After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of Second-Degree Murder, two counts of Use of a Firearm to Commit a Felony, and Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm. Appellant was sentenced to sixty (60) to eighty (80) years in prison for Second-Degree Murder, to ten (10) to twenty (20) years in prison for each count of Use of a Firearm to Commit a Felony, and to ten (10) to twenty (20) years in prison for Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm. Each sentence is to run consecutively. 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 raises the following assignments of error on appeal: 1) The district court abused its discretion in admitting evidence of Defendant’s character, specifically: a) The fact that the Defendant’s conducted drug deals after the murder; b) The fact that the Defendant was a victim of a robbery; and c) The fact that Defendant owned firearms for purposes of showing propensity to act in a certain fashion; and 2) The District court erred in holding the cell tower dump was not a search and subject to the protections of the Fourth Amendment.