
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man convicted in the murder case that inspired the 1999 movie “Boys Don’t Cry” is challenging Nebraska’s three-judge method for determining death sentences.
Attorneys for John Lotter argue that he had a right to have jurors, not judges, weigh his fate when he was sentenced in 1996 to death. The attorneys cite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that struck down Florida’s death penalty process, saying it gave too much power to judges to make the ultimate decision.
Lotter was condemned for his role in the 1993 slaying of Teena Brandon, a 21-year-old woman who lived briefly as a man, and two witnesses, Lisa Lambert and Philip DeVine, at a rural Humboldt farmhouse.