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Omaha teen involved in fatal crash arrested, jailed

Emily Standley
Emily Standley

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha teenager has been arrested on suspicion causing a fatal crash while drunk earlier this month.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Department says 18-year-old Emily Standley was arrested Thursday on suspicion of felony motor vehicle homicide and DUI causing serious bodily injury.

Investigators say Standley was driving Nov. 4 when she ran a red light just north of Omaha and was hit by a pickup.

The crash killed 18-year-old man Jason Hald, who was a passenger in the backseat of Standley’s car. Standley and another passenger, 19-year-old Myles McIntyre, were injured.

Investigators say Standley’s blood alcohol content was .113 — more than the legal driving limit.

Standley remained jailed Friday and could not be reached for comment. It was unclear whether she had an attorney.

New Bellevue city council member cited for permit violation

city-of-bellevueBELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol has ticketed a newly elected Bellevue city councilman for an electrical license violation.

The investigation stems from a complaint filed by DC Electric of Bellevue against councilman Pat Shannon. Shannon was elected to the council in this month’s election.

Dave Compton, the company’s owner, says Shannon hired his firm to install electric panels in a newly renovated building. Compton says that once the work was done more permits were issued to DC Electric without his knowledge. Compton says he didn’t want his company liable for workers he did not hire.

Shannon says he paid the company about $50,000 for services. He says he met with the patrol and was told it was “no big deal.”

Kansas mother fatally shot, week-old baby reported missing

wichita-policeWICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are searching for a missing week-old baby after her mother was found fatally shot in Wichita, Kansas.

A relative found the woman dead Thursday in her apartment. Sgt. Nikki Woodrow says the woman’s daughter, Sofia Victoria Gonzalez Abarca, is “considered missing and endangered.”

Police want to talk to anyone with a relationship to the victim. Police sent out an alert Thursday night saying the driver of a purple Cadillac who was a person of interest in the case has been found and questioned. He is not considered to be a suspect.

Woodrow says the child’s father also isn’t considered a suspect.

Police didn’t immediately return phone or email messages from The Associated Press.

Teen convicted of 2nd-degree murder for Omaha park shooting

Jamar Milton
Jamar Milton

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A teen has been convicted for his role in the 2015 killing of one man and the wounding of another in Omaha’s Miller Park.

A Douglas County jury found 19-year-old Jamar Milton guilty Thursday of second-degree murder, assault and a weapons count. Prosecutors say Milton and two other boys fatally shot 31-year-old Jamymell Ray and wounded Charles Fisher on June 29, 2015.

Milton was 17 at the time of the shootings, but he was prosecuted as an adult. Another teen, 16-year-old Shuntayvious Primes-Willis, was sentenced in July to 30-50 years in prison for his role. The other youth involved, now 13, is being treated at Boys Town in Omaha.

Police investigating whether Omaha sex assaults related

omaha-policeOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police are looking into the possibility that three sex assaults around midtown Omaha could have been carried out by the same man.

Police say the first attack happened April 3, when a 26-year-old woman was grabbed from behind and groped under her clothes as she entered her apartment building at 37th and Jackson streets. The second took place two days later when a 20-year-old woman was grabbed and groped outside her Creighton University dorm.

The third attack also happened on the Creighton campus, when a 19-year-old woman reported being grabbed Nov. 5 outside her dorm.

Police are asking anyone with information to call CrimeStoppers.

1 of 6 wrongly convicted seeks to garnish wages of officials

gage-county-sheriffBEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — One of six people wrongly convicted of murder and awarded more than $28 million has asked authorities to garnish the wages and seize property of two law enforcement officials who helped convict him.

James Dean, one of the so-called Beatrice Six, filed a request late last week asking that the wages of Gage County Reserve Deputy Wayne Price and former Deputy Berdette Searcey be garnished. Dean also asked the U.S. Marshals Service to seize property from them.

A federal jury in July awarded $28.1 million to Dean and five others wrongly convicted of and imprisoned for the 1985 killing of Helen Wilson, of Beatrice.

Dean’s share of the award is $2.7 million.

Lincoln flag incident sparks school officials’ concerns

hemp-flagLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Lincoln Public Schools superintendent has apologized after administrators asked some students not to fly American flags on their vehicles from holders they made in class due to worries about the potential for disagreements.

Several welding students at Career Academy had flown the flags for Veterans Day with the permission of Career Academy officials. The request was prompted by an incident Friday at Southeast Community College when someone removed one of the flags from a holder and placed it in the bed of an adjacent pickup.

The person who removed the flag hasn’t been identified.

Superintendent Steve Joel said Thursday officials respect the rights of students to display their flags and that the decision to ask students not to fly them was an error.

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Yutan man denied parole in wife’s beating death

Mark Schnabel (NE Dept. of Corrections Photo)
Mark Schnabel (NE Dept. of Corrections Photo)

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Yutan man sentenced to life in prison in the 1999 slaying his wife, a popular high school volleyball coach, has been denied parole.

Mark Schnabel was convicted of beating 40-year-old Sandy Schnabel, placing her under the wheel of the family minivan and setting the vehicle on fire. Authorities say Schnabel tried to stage her death as an accident.

Schnabel pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. He was denied parole Thursday.

Judge Mary Gilbride had intended to sentence Schnabel to life in prison without parole, but failed to include a minimum sentence in her order. Gilbride tried to amend her sentenced but the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected the attempt in 2000, making Schnabel eligible for parole after 10 years in prison.

The Nebraska Board of Parole didn’t grant Schnabel a hearing until this year.

Judicial panel find death penalty can apply to Nikko Jenkins

Nikko Jenkins
Nikko Jenkins

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A three-judge panel has found enough aggravating factors for the death penalty to apply to a man convicted of killing four people in 2013.

Now, the panel will weigh mitigating factors — such as the mental fitness of the defendant — presented by the public defender to determine whether Nikko Jenkins will be sentenced to death. That decision will be determined at a later date.

The aggravating factors found by the panel Wednesday include that Jenkins killed multiple people and has a history of violence.

Jenkins pleaded no contest to the August 2013 shooting deaths in and around Omaha of Juan Uribe-Pena, Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, Curtis Bradford and Andrea Kruger. The shotgun deaths in three separate attacks occurred over a 10-day period just weeks after Jenkins’ release from prison.

Dad accused of driving drunk fights ending daughter’s life

Benjamin Thompson
Benjamin Thompson

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 36-year-old man who is charged with driving drunk when his 8-year-old daughter was critically hurt last month is fighting an effort to remove her from life support.

Another hearing will be held in December because Benjamin Thompson objected to the plan to remove Kazlynn Thompson from life support.

Kazlynn Thomson was one of three children injured in the Oct. 24 wreck, and her head injuries were the most severe.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services had asked the court to approve ending Kazlynn’s life support. The other children, ages 6 and 1, have been in state custody since the crash.

Thompson remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bond. He is charged with fifth-offense drunken driving and three counts of child abuse.

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