(AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has reversed a lower court’s refusal to consider an immigrant’s request to withdraw his no contest pleas to two misdemeanors.

Yannick Yuma, a 28-year-old native of Zaire who was granted asylum to the U.S. in 2001, was convicted in 2010 in a domestic violence case. He was sentenced to a year in jail, but released the same day because of credit for time already served.

Yuma later sought to withdraw his pleas, saying he didn’t know he could be deported for the convictions. The lower court rejected the request, saying it didn’t have jurisdiction.

The state’s high court disagreed Friday, saying that because Yuma was released the same day he was sentenced, he could not have filed for post-conviction relief to be released from jail.

(AP) — A 24-year-old Lincoln man has pleaded not guilty to two manslaughter charges stemming from a traffic accident that killed two of his friends.

Court records say Joshua Fagan filed the pleas on Wednesday.

Fagan is accused of drinking alcohol before he began driving with his two friends on April 20. Authorities say Fagan lost control of the car and it rolled on a county road near Branched Oak Lake north of Lincoln.

Chad Spencer and Ryan Bostock were found dead at the scene. Both were 24 years old and lived in Lincoln.

Fagan was taken to a hospital.

(AP) — A state judicial nominating commission forwarded the names of three nominees for a county judgeship in eastern Nebraska to Gov. Dave Heineman for his consideration.

The commission narrowed a field of eight applicants for the 5th Judicial District. The nominees from which the governor will choose are Thomas J. Klein, of Wahoo, James C. Stecker, of Columbus, and Stephen R.W. Twiss, of Central City.

The vacancy is due to the retirement of Judge Curtis H. Evans. The 5th Judicial District consists of Boone, Butler, Colfax, Hamilton, Merrick, Nance, Platte, Polk, Saunders, Seward and York Counties.

Heineman will schedule interviews with nominees in the coming weeks.

(AP) — A woman accused of firing a gun during a struggle inside an Omaha ambulance says she didn’t have a gun in her possession.

In a jailhouse interview with several reporters on Thursday, 24-year-old Justine Dubois said she didn’t know where the gun came from.

Police say Dubois was arrested July 1 because she was driving a stolen car, but then she appeared to have a seizure in a police car.

Authorities say that while paramedics were taking Dubois to a hospital, she pulled a gun and started making threats. Both Dubois and an Omaha firefighter medic were wounded in a struggle.

On Thursday she acknowledged stealing the car and using some marijuana and methamphetamine the day she was arrested.

(AP) — Authorities say a 19-year-old woman has died in a rollover crash near Wayne in northeast Nebraska.

Nebraska State Patrol Capt. Paul Hattan says the accident occurred about two miles southeast of Wayne and was reported about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Hattan says Amber Ernesti lost control of her sport utility vehicle on a gravel road and it rolled, ejecting her. She wasn’t wearing a seat restraint.

Ernesti was a West Point resident who attended Wayne State College.

(AP) — Authorities don’t suspect foul play in the death of a man in his 80s who was found dead in the Missouri River near a campground in northeast Nebraska.

The man’s body was found Wednesday.

South Sioux City Police Chief Scot Ford says rescue boats helped recover the man’s body near the Scenic Park campground.

Ford said Thursday that the family requested that the man’s identity not be released.

Ford says it doesn’t look like the man had been boating or fishing before his death, but there’s no indication of criminal activity.

South Sioux City Parks Manager Gene Maffit says the man wasn’t registered as a guest at the campground.

(AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the conspiracy and theft convictions of two Nebraska brothers in a Social Security fraud case.

Timothy Shirley was sentenced last year to 21 months for conspiracy, theft and Social Security fraud. His brother, Matthew Shirley, was sentenced to 12 years for conspiracy and theft.

Prosecutors said Matthew Shirley employed his brother — paying him in cash — knowing his brother was receiving Social Security disability benefits.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected Matthew Shirley’s argument that he stole nothing, because disability payments come from a trust fund that belongs to the individual who funds it, not the U.S. government.

It also rejected Timothy Shirley’s claims that there was insufficient evidence to conviction him and that his sentence was excessive.

 

(AP) — A federal judge in Wyoming handed down a nearly six-year prison sentence to an Australian man who says he robbed a Jackson bank so he could give money to the homeless.

The judge on Thursday sentenced 40-year-old Corey Donaldson to 70 months for bank robbery.

Donaldson claimed at sentencing that he was justified in robbing more than $140,000 from the US Bank in Jackson on New Year’s Eve.

He has likened himself to Robin Hood and claims he gave much of the money to the homeless and staged the robbery to call attention to problems with the banking system.

Law enforcement officers arrested Donaldson in Utah and recovered more than $30,000 from him and from a room he rented in an upscale hotel.

(AP) — Authorities are investigating an early morning burglary at a Bellevue high school.

Bellevue police say two suspects broke into Bellevue East High School early Thursday morning and obtained keys from an administrative office. The suspects used the keys to enter other offices.

Three laptops, a camera and an undetermined amount of money was taken. Officials estimate $20,000 in damage to the school.

Police are reviewing a security camera in an effort to identify the two people.