S-25-0465 Ryan D. Schmuecker (Appellant) v. Lancaster County, Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Terry Wagner, and Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Merit Commission (Appellees)
Appeal from the District Court for Lancaster County, Hon. Andrew R. Jacobsen
Attorneys: Sean J. Brennan and Candice C. Wooster (Brennan Nielsen Wooster Law Firm for Appellant) and Daniel J. Zieg (Deputy County Attorney) and Kyle Jedlicka (Senior Certified Law Student) (Lancaster County Attorney’s Office for Appellees)
Civil: Termination of employment
Proceedings Below: Appellant filed a petition in error in the district court in which he challenged an administrative order from the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Merit Commission that terminated his employment. The district court affirmed the termination of employment. On its own motion, the Nebraska Supreme Court ordered this case to be transferred from the docket of the Nebraska Court of Appeals to its docket.
Issue: Appellant assigns the following errors: 1) Appellant was denied his statutory and procedural due process rights when he was not given written or oral notice that his credibility and a prior unfounded internal investigation were at issue; 2) The district court erred when it failed to properly construe whether Appellant’s conduct violated Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-927 in light of the penalty provisions within and the contents of Nebraska Revised Statute § 29-406: A) The district court erred by failing to consider the penalty provisions in § 28-927 in order to accurately describe the material elements of the alleged crime; B) The district court erred by failing to consider § 29- 406 entirely, ignoring the essentials to prove that a legally issued warrant was not served; 3) The commission failed to deliver its final order within three days of the hearing, in violation of its own standard operating procedures; and 4) The district court erred by holding that Appellant waived his right on appeal to assert prejudicial error concerning evidence received in front of the merit commission due to his failure to object during the administrative hearing.