LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of a 48-year-old man sentenced to life in prison as a teenager for kidnapping a Blair doughnut shop clerk in 1983.

Brian Smith was 16 when he and a teenage friend robbed the shop and kidnapped 21-year-old clerk Mary Jo Hovendick. Police say the teens raped the woman, tied her up in the car and pushed it into the Missouri River. Hovendick’s body was found months later.

Smith pleaded guilty to burglary and kidnapping and was sentenced to life.

He recently appealed based on a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared life sentences for juveniles in non-homicide cases unconstitutional.

But the Nebraska Supreme Court said Friday that Smith should have filed a writ of habeas corpus claiming unlawful imprisonment.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected a killer’s appeal challenging the use of “shot-spotter” technology that records gunfire, pinpoints its origin and notifies police of it.

Thylun “Jay” Hill, of Omaha, is serving life after being convicted in 2013 of first-degree murder the February 2012 shooting death of Anthony Carter.

Hill argued in his appeal that evidence from the shot-spotter system should not have been admitted at his trial. He questioned whether the system had been properly tested and if police improperly relied on information it provided.

The high court dismissed those arguments Friday as “somewhat dubious,” saying officers reported hearing the gunshots at the same time the system recorded them and that Carter was found at the location pinpointed by system.

 

DENVER (AP) — A woman accused of neglecting her four sons in a filthy Denver apartment faces up to seven years in prison after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors.

Lorinda Bailey pleaded guilty to a second offense of child abuse Friday. In exchange, six other counts are being dropped.

Police say Bailey and the boy’s father, Wayne Sperling, kept their sons in an apartment filled with cat feces and flies. When authorities found the children in October, they could communicate only in grunts, were malnourished and weren’t toilet trained.

Bailey and Sperling previously lost custody of other children amid similar allegations.

Prosecutors say the case is among the most horrific they’ve seen, but child abuse laws kept them from pursuing harsher penalties because the children didn’t suffer serious physical injuries.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha-area law officers have been searching for a man who hospital employees say had blood on his hands when he reported having a body out in his car.

Authorities say the man went into Methodist Women’s Hospital around 9 a.m. Friday, told hospital workers about the body and then hustled outside. Hospital workers say they went out to the car and saw no body but reported seeing some knives.

The man drove away. Officers say the car’s license plates were issued in western Nebraska’s Lincoln County.

Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Sellers says officers aren’t sure whether they’re looking for a killer or someone with mental issues.

The hospital and a nearby elementary school that hasn’t yet opened to children for the year have ended their precautionary lockdowns.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man has been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison for his role in robbing an Iowa bank last year.

Michael Clayton, of Omaha, must also serve three years of supervised release after his prison sentence and must pay $12,500 in restitution to the Citizen’s State Bank in Fort Dodge.

A jury convicted Clayton on a bank robbery charge in February.

U.S. Attorney Kevin Techau says in a statement trial evidence indicated the 44-year-old Clayton called Fort Dodge police on Feb. 7, 2013, and threatened to shoot up an elementary school. The call, intended to divert police attention away from the bank, was two months after the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut.

While police responded to the school, prosecutors say Clayton robbed the bank.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Fire officials are hailing a 12-year-old girl who kept her cool and hustled her little brothers and the family dog out of their burning home in Bellevue.

The three children were home alone around 8 a.m. Thursday when the fire broke out in the laundry room. Elizabeth Mahan smelled the smoke, rounded up her brothers and the dog and went next door to call 911.

Elizabeth says she’d learned in school what to do during an emergency.

Fire Battalion Chief Joe Gibilisco says Elizabeth did the “textbook-perfect thing” and says she “acted better than a lot of adults do.”

The fire cause is being investigated.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A judge has ordered state psychiatric hospital officials to court next week to explain why the Lincoln hospital can’t house and treat a man convicted of killing four Omaha people last summer.

Douglas County District Judge Peter Bataillon (buh-TAL’-yuhn) issued the order during a hearing Thursday — more than two weeks after he ordered Nikko Jenkins to the state’s psychiatric hospital in Lincoln for treatment. But in a letter sent to the judge last week, the Lincoln Regional Center said it doesn’t have adequate security or a bed for Jenkins.

Jenkins was convicted earlier this year of four counts of first-degree murder but was declared incompetent to face the sentencing portion of his case.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 82-year-old woman has been given two days in jail and two years of probation for a March crash that killed a bicyclist on the west side of Omaha.

Ruth Jeffers, of La Vista, was sentenced on Thursday. She’d pleaded guilty to misdemeanor vehicular homicide.

Authorities say Jeffers swerved across a traffic lane on March 13 and struck 56-year-old Jim Johnston. He later died at a hospital. Prosecutors say Jeffers swerved to avoid a stopped car in front of her.

Jeffers must serve her first day of jail time on March 13, 2015, and her second on March 13, 2016. The judge also ordered Jeffers to write a letter to Johnston’s wife, perform 200 hours of community service, pay $3,000 restitution and pay a $1,000 fine.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A judge has set a hearing to find a psychiatric facility that will treat an Omaha man found too mentally unfit to undergo sentencing for killing four people.

The hearing Thursday will come more than two weeks after Douglas County District Judge Peter Bataillon (buh-TAL’-yuhn) ordered Nikko Jenkins to the state’s psychiatric hospital in Lincoln for treatment. But in a letter sent to the judge last week, the Lincoln Regional Center said it doesn’t have adequate security or a bed for Jenkins.

Jenkins was convicted earlier this year of four counts of first-degree murder but was declared incompetent to face the sentencing portion of his case.

The judge has said he’ll consider other locations, including those out of state.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Veterans can get a special price on shooting this month at the Nebraska Game and Parks Outdoor Education Center in Lincoln.

August is Veterans Appreciation Month at the center. Veterans with proper identification may shoot for $5 per 30 minutes on Mondays during August.

In addition, archers can sight in their bows for just $5 on Fridays in August.

The education center is situated at 4703 N. 44th St. The indoor ranges are open Friday through Tuesday.