OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man died at a hospital after being shot in east Omaha.
Officers sent around 6 a.m. Sunday to investigate a report of shots fired found the man between gas pumps at a convenience store.
Police say he was taken to Nebraska Medical Center, where he died. He’s been identified as 27-year-old Andrew Peek.
No arrests have been reported.
MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say officers have caught an inmate who escaped from the Work Ethic Camp in McCook.
The Red Willow County Sheriff’s Office says inmate Aaron Schlieker was taken back into custody just after 4 a.m. Monday.
The Nebraska Correctional Services Department said Schlieker fled the camp a little after 7 p.m. Sunday.
He was sentenced to three to five years in custody on a burglary conviction in Dodge County. His tentative release date is April 19, 2020.
The Work Ethic Camp is a minimum-security facility. Inmates are able to work in the community with intermittent supervision.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Health officials in Omaha say a bat found in the Dundee neighborhood has tested positive for rabies.
The Douglas County Health Department and Nebraska Humane Society say the bat was found earlier this week.
Officials say it’s approaching the time of year when bats begin to seek shelter in homes to keep warm at night.
Rabies is a viral disease transmitted through the bite or scratch of an infected animal that affects people. It is almost always fatal if not treated before symptoms appear.
Symptoms in animals include general sickness, swallowing problems and excessive drooling, slow and unusual movement, no apparent fear of humans and aggression.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday refused to block Nebraska from carrying out the state’s first-ever lethal injection despite a German pharmaceutical company’s lawsuit that claims the state illicitly obtained its drugs.
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf denied the company’s request to temporarily block state prison officials from executing Carey Dean Moore, one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates. Moore is scheduled to die Tuesday in Nebraska’s first execution since 1997 with a never-before-tried combination of drugs.
Moore, who was convicted of killing two cab drivers five days apart in 1979, has stopped fighting the state’s efforts to execute him. Kopf said granting the drug company’s request would “frustrate the will of the people,” referring to the 61 percent of Nebraska voters who chose to reinstate capital punishment in 2016 after lawmakers abolished it.
“I will not allow the plaintiff to frustrate the wishes of Mr. Moore and the laws of the state of Nebraska,” Kopf said during the hearing.
Attorneys for the drug company, Fresenius Kabi, filed a lawsuit earlier this week arguing that state officials improperly obtained at least one of the company’s drugs. Attorney Mark Christensen said the company plans to file an immediate appeal of Friday’s ruling.
In Nevada, a judge indefinitely postponed an execution last month after drugmaker Alvogen filed a similar lawsuit over one of its products.
Moore is scheduled to be executed with a combination of four drugs: the sedative diazepam, commonly known as Valium, to render him unconscious; fentanyl citrate, a powerful synthetic opioid; cisatracurium besylate to induce paralysis and halt his breathing; and potassium chloride to stop his heart.
Fresenius Kabi argues that it manufactured the state’s supply of potassium chloride and possibly the cisatracurium.
Nebraska state officials have refused to identify the source of their execution drugs, but Fresenius Kabi alleges the state’s supply of potassium chloride is stored in 30 milliliter bottles. Fresenius Kabi said it’s the only company that packages the drug in vials of that size.
Fresenius Kabi said Nebraska’s use of its drugs would damage its reputation and business relationships. The company said it takes no position on capital punishment, but strongly opposes the use of its products for use in executions.
No other public evidence has surfaced to confirm the supplier’s identity. A state judge in Nebraska ordered prison officials in June to release documents that might reveal the source of the drugs, but the state has appealed that ruling.
State attorneys deny Fresenius Kabi’s allegation that prison officials obtained the drugs illicitly.
Assistant Attorney General Ryan Post said in court Friday that the state’s interest in carrying out the execution outweighs the company’s desire to protect its reputation. Post noted that the state still has not revealed its supplier, arguing that Fresenius Kabi could have remained anonymous by not filing the lawsuit.
“The plaintiff stepped right into the spotlight, and they’re complaining about it,” he said.
The state also notes that one of its protocol drugs expires on Aug. 31, which will leave the state with no way to carry out future executions .
In an affidavit filed Thursday, Department of Correctional Services Director Scott Frakes said he contacted at least 40 suppliers in six states and found only one that agreed to provide his agency with the necessary drugs. But that supplier is unwilling to sell them any more of its drugs, Frakes said.
ALLIANCE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say work on Nebraska Highway 2 is expected to slow motorists in the Panhandle.
The Nebraska Transportation Department says pavement work is scheduled to begin Monday on a nearly 13-mile (21 kilometers) stretch running east from Alliance.
Traffic will be reduced to one lane and will be maintained with flaggers.
The project is expected to be finished in September.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police have released the names of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of man believed to have stabbed or cut three women at a homeless shelter this week.
Police said Saturday in a release that the officers now on administrative leave are 39-year-old Eric Henka, 45-year-old Timothy Bauman, 30-year-old Jared Grayson and 30-year-old Kyle Graber. Henka and Bauman are eight-year veterans on the force; Graber has four years’ service and Grayson has two years.
Police say the officers fired Wednesday on 54-year-old Stephen Caldwell at the Siena-Francis House when he refused to drop a knife. Police say Caldwell stabbed and injured two women in the shelter’s parking lot before taking a third hostage inside the building and holding a blade to her throat.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man convicted of a 1988 double killing in western Nebraska is seeking to reopen the case by using new technology to identify fingerprints left at the crime scene, even as a new documentary series nearing completion calls into question his guilt.
Jeff Boppre, who is serving two life sentences, has maintained for three decades that he was framed for the killings of Richard Valdez and his pregnant girlfriend, Sharon Condon, in a Scottsbluff home. The Nebraska judicial system has upheld his 1989 conviction numerous times.
But a renewed effort by Boppre’s lawyers — coupled with a documentary reminiscent of the popular 2015 Netflix series “Making a Murderer” that explored a Wisconsin case — promise to bring fresh attention to Boppre’s conviction.
Producer Douglas Thornton with Middle West Studios said work began nearly a decade ago on what was intended to be a 90-minute documentary. It has ballooned into a series of seven to nine episodes set to wrap up late this year. The piece is being licensed to a TV network, though Thornton wouldn’t say which one.
The work was never intended to prove Boppre’s innocence, Thornton said, but it’s clear he believes Boppre has been wrongfully convicted.
“The evidence does not — and never will — line up to Jeff Boppre,” he said.
On Thursday, lawyers for Boppre, 55, and the Nebraska attorney general’s office made arguments for and against analyzing fingerprints found at the crime scene — that did not match Boppre or the victims — using the new technology.
Latent fingerprint technology developed since Boppre’s 1989 trial can make matches from low-quality fingerprints or even a single finger. Previously, investigators typically needed quality prints from all 10 fingers to make a match. The FBI has recently used the technology to identify human remains — some that had remained a mystery for more than three decades.
Lawyers in the Boppre case hope to use the technology to show that another man — John Yellowboy, a cousin of Condon’s who is serving a prison sentence in Colorado for unrelated crimes — had been in the house and is the likely killer.
Backing this claim are defense affidavits from at least eight people who were associated with Boppre, Yellowboy and the victims. They include the affidavit of a woman who said she hid under a bed in the home as the killings took place and that she believed Yellowboy was the killer. Another woman says Yellowboy confessed to her.
Yellowboy is in prison in Canon City, Colorado, for convictions of kidnapping, first-degree sexual assault and robbery. Colorado prisons spokesman Mark Fairbairn said prison policy would not allow for Yellowboy to comment to a reporter. There is no attorney currently representing Yellowboy.
Boppre’s lawyers contend that the new fingerprint technology is akin to the advent of DNA technology. A 2001 Nebraska law requires the state to test DNA evidence in cases where someone has already been convicted if it’s likely to produce evidence that someone else committed the crime.
“Legally, constitutionally and ethically, the fingerprints should be analyzed,” Boppre’s attorneys argue in court documents. “The real question in this regard is, why not? What harm is done by doing a routine check of the fingerprints, the same as is done in literally hundreds of thousands of daily occurrences when an individual is arrested?”
Prosecutors argued in a one-page brief that Nebraska law doesn’t “create a postconviction remedy.”
“This case has been challenged before several judges in several courts over many years, and each time the conviction has been confirmed,” the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office said in a written statement.
Iowa attorney Thomas Frerichs, who joined Boppre’s defense team about a year ago, said the ultimate goal of the defense team is to exonerate Boppre. He believes the evidence uncovered by attorneys and the documentary will prove Boppre is innocent.
Prosecutors remain unconvinced, noting that police found letters spelling out parts of Boppre’s name written in grease on the floor and on a door near where Valdez’s body was found. Investigators said Valdez wrote Boppre’s name moments before dying.
Prosecutors said Boppre shot the couple during a night of heavy drug use, then tossed the gun near Gallup, New Mexico. Police said the gun was recovered with help from two acquaintances, Kennard Wasmer and William Niemann, who testified against Boppre.
Boppre has made several bids over the years to have his case reconsidered. All of his previous appeals have been denied, and the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld his conviction in 1993, 1997, 2004 and 2010.
In some of those appeals, Boppre said Wasmer and Niemann framed him for the killings and that Wasmer killed Valdez and Condon. Then, in 2010, Boppre said new evidence pointed to Yellowboy as the killer.
MINATARE, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is inviting people to celebrate National Dog Day by bringing their pets along for a hike at Lake Minatare State Recreation Area in western Nebraska.
Hike with Hounds is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Aug. 25, beginning at the park’s lighthouse. Organizers that that in addition to the hike, tips will be provided for people to safely hike with their dogs various parks and wildlands.
All socialized dogs are welcome as long as they are on 6-foot (2 meter) leashes.
The event is free, but a Nebraska park entry permit is required for vehicles. It may be purchased at outdoornebraska.org or at the Lake Minatare office.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska is inviting hunters to an upland bird hunting challenge.
The Nebraska Upland Slam encourages hunters to try to kill a ring-necked pheasant, sharp-tailed grouse, greater prairie chicken and northern bobwhite. The challenge is sponsored by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Pheasants Forever, Inc., and Quail Forever.
Those who complete the Nebraska Upland Slam will receive a certificate and pin. Those who complete the challenge during the 2018-19 season will also be registered to win one of several prizes, including a Browning Silver 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun, 65-gallon high-efficiency cooler, an award-winning Pheasants Forever print, and other prizes.
Hunters can visit OutdoorNebraska.org/UplandSlam for more information, official rules and entry details.
A North Platte man is in jail after authorities say he raped a woman.
On July 28, 2018 Deputies were called to check the welfare of a couple of individuals on the roadway by Lake Maloney, south of North Platte. Deputies found a female subject with a male subject. The female could not speak English and it was very difficult for Deputies to communicate with her. Eventually Deputies were able to get an interpreter and spoke with the female at length.
Over the course of several days, Deputies conducted an investigation and found the female was allegedly forcibly raped by the male she was originally found with. Additionally the male subject had contacted the female after the alleged assault and wanted her to change her story.
On August 9, 2018 Deputies made contact with 26-year-old Austin Klatt. Klatt was arrested for First Degree Sexual Assault, Third Degree Domestic Assault, Tampering with a Witness and Disturbing the Peace. Klatt was placed in the Lincoln County Detention Center.
