S-24-0947 In re Interest of Aaden S., State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. Aaden S. (Appellant)
Appeal from the Nebraska Court of Appeals on appeal from the County Court for Buffalo County, sitting as a juvenile court, Judge John P. Rademacher
Attorneys: Charles D. Brewster (Klein, Brewster, Brandt & Messersmith for Appellant) and Marti S. Sleister (Deputy Buffalo County Attorney for Appellee)
Juvenile: Motion to transfer juvenile court case to county court
Proceedings Below: Appellant was charged in juvenile court with several felonies, and the State moved to transfer the case to the county court for Appellant to face charges as an adult. After a hearing, the juvenile court granted the motion, and the Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed. See In re Interest of Aaden, 33 Neb.App. 777, 25 N.W.3d 480 (2025). Appellant petitioned for further review, which the Nebraska Supreme Court granted and transferred this case to its docket.
Issues: On petition for further review, Appellant assigns the following errors: 1) The Court of Appeals erred by finding that Appellant’s rights to due process of law were not violated by the trial court when it received materials offered by the State as evidence without any identification or authentication of those materials; 2) The Court of Appeals erred by not finding that Appellant’s right to counsel was violated due to his attorney’s inability to contest the State’s evidence by cross-examination of witnesses of the State, as those witnesses did not exist at the transfer hearing; 3) The Court of Appeals erred by affirming the trial court's finding that Appellant was not amenable to rehabilitative services, and did so without having any evidence from the State to support this conclusion; and 4) The Court of Appeals erred by finding that the restorative justice element of the transfer process weighed in favor of transfer of Appellant to adult court when the evidence before the court showed that engaging in restorative justice by Appellant and the alleged victim was impossible to do.