OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A jury has acquitted a man accused in the shooting death of a friend in Omaha.
Jurors said Tuesday that 32-year-old Antoine Johnson was not guilty of second-degree murder. Police say he shot to death 29-year-old Trent Stutheit on Easter Sunday last year.
His attorneys argued that Johnson shot Stutheit in self-defense when they argued after hours of drinking, drug use and horseplay.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man who served time for second-degree murder has been sent back to prison for shooting a neighbor in Lincoln.
61-year-old Jimmy Livingston was sentenced Tuesday to 30 to 40 years. Judge Jodi Nelson told Livingston that if he is “at liberty where you can drink alcohol and have access to guns … you are a danger.”
Livingston had pleaded guilty to assault and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. He apologized at his sentencing for “taking the law into my own hands,” saying the man he shot had conned his way into his home for a family gathering and since has run off with Livingston’s 20-year-old stepdaughter.
Court records say Livingston spent time in prison for shooting a man at an Omaha bar.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two people have taken plea deals for the slaying of a man on an American Indian reservation in northeast Nebraska.
Federal court records say 20-year-old Jeremiah Wolfe pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Omaha to second-degree murder and his mother, 39-year-old Natasha Wolfe, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.
The two and Lawrencia Merrick were charged with the April 2017 strangulation of 32-year-old William Redhorn Jr. on the Winnebago Reservation. Merrick is expected to change her plea of not guilty at a hearing Thursday.
The records say Jeremiah Wolfe and Merrick told investigators they came upon Redhorn outside a building he was trying to break into. Wolfe says a fight broke out and he put Redhorn in a chokehold until he quit struggling. Merrick says she also struck Redhorn.
TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska agency has ordered state prison management to work with the guards’ union to transition a southeast prison from 12-hour to 8-hour shifts.
The Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations ruled this month for the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution to make the shift change.
Correctional Services Department Director Scott Frakes implemented the 12-hour shifts at the prison as an emergency measure after an inmate riot in 2015.
The prison still hasn’t returned to 8-hour shifts despite negotiations and agreement with the union, Nebraska Association of Public Employees Local 61.
Prison management will now have to sort out a plan with the union to transition back to shorter shifts in a safe and timely manner.
Department Spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith says there aren’t details on when or how the transition will take place.
BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a police chase that began in suburban Omaha and wound south through southwest Iowa ended with a crash and the arrests of two people.
Bellevue police investigating a reported drive-by shooting Tuesday night say a man in a vehicle fired at officers early Wednesday and then fled into Iowa. None of the officers was hit.
Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Nathan Ludwig says an Iowa trooper intending to join the chase crashed his cruiser near Hamburg and was flown to an Omaha hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Ludwig identified him as Trooper Dillon Malone.
Ludwig says the vehicle being pursued crashed in northwest Missouri, and two occupants were arrested. The pair’s names haven’t been released.
SUTHERLAND, Neb. (AP) — Preservation groups are discussing how to protect a portion of the Oregon-California Trail in Nebraska during construction of an electrical transmission line.
The proposed 220-mile (350-kilometer) long transmission project would pass through the trail’s rest stop in Sutherland.
The Nebraska Public Power District says the project is necessary to prevent power outages. But the Oregon-California Trails Association and the Nebraska State Historical Society say the line could threaten the remains of travelers who died on the trail.
The graves believed to be near the area haven’t been confirmed.
The power district is looking for ways to avoid disrupting natural habitats or areas of potential historical significance.
Spokesman Mark Becker says the district is considering alternate building techniques, including helicopters to pull the lines instead of taking them over land.
ATKINSON, Neb. (AP) — A 68-year-old man has died after becoming trapped in a grain bin last week in northern Nebraska.
Firefighters, medics and Holt County sheriff’s deputies were sent Thursday afternoon to a property near Atkinson. They eventually freed the man, but he was pronounced dead later at West Holt Memorial Hospital in Atkinson.
The man’s been identified as Warren Funk, of rural Atkinson. Atkinson Fire Chief Ryan Keogh says the accident occurred when Funk went inside the bin while unloading corn.
Rhea Pearce, age 72 of North Platte, died April 16, 2018 at Great Plains Health. She was born November 13, 1945 to Jason and Betty(Brazelston) Dewhirst at Council Bluffs, Iowa. She is survived by her son, Mark Pearce of Lincoln; sisters, Dawn Lambert of California, and Susan Rude; brother, Dean Olson; mother, Betty Olson; nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her father; and her husband, Don. Memorial services were 2:30 pm Monday, April 23, 2018 at Ft. McPherson National Cemetery. Carpenter Memorial Chapel is in care of arrangements.
PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have removed a snake that slithered its way into a suburban Omaha apartment.
The Nebraska Humane Society was sent to the Papillion (puh-PIHL’-yuhn) apartment building early Saturday morning. The society’s Mark Langan says the ball python likely belongs to someone else in the building and may have found its way into the apartment by slithering through vents.
He says the 3- to 4-foot-long (around 1 meter) snake will be kept by the society until it is claimed by its owner. Otherwise, it will be put up for adoption.
HAMPTON, Neb. (AP) — A bald eagle sickened by lead poisoning has been nursed back to health and released back into the wild.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that the eagle was freed Monday at the Pioneer Trails Recreation Area, which sits west-northwest of Hampton. It had been found in a cornfield near Hampton, so sick it couldn’t fly.
Molly Mullen with the Fontenelle Forest Raptor Recovery center near Elmwood says eagles can develop lead poisoning by ingesting lead shot or bullets in carcasses they feed on. Eagles also can develop lead poisoning by eating fish that have ingested lead sinkers.
