S-25-0718 State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. Elluminati E. Prestige (Appellant)
Appeal from the District Court for York County, Judge James C. Stecker
Attorneys: Chad Wythers (Wythers Law Firm for Appellant) and Nathan A. Liss (Nebraska Attorney General’s Office for Appellee)
Criminal: Second-degree assault
Proceedings below: A jury convicted Appellant of second-degree assault, and after she was determined to be a habitual criminal, she was sentenced to twenty (20) to forty (40) years in prison with a mandatory minimum sentence of ten (10) years in prison. 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.
Issues: Appellant assigns the following errors: 1) The district court committed reversible error when failing to provide a jury instruction regarding self-defense considering Appellant testified that her intent was to verbally resolve the issues with K.P. and A.W., and once she was attacked, she had a right to defend herself; 2) The district court erred in allowing Appellant’s custodial statement to be presented to the jury without an independent judicial determination that the statement was freely and voluntarily made; 3) The district court erred in failing to grant a mistrial when Appellant was not able to see or hear parts of the trial; 4) Trial counsel was ineffective in the following ways: A. Failing to adequately prepare a defense with Appellant and/or call relevant witnesses (counsel even filed a motion stating the same). B. Failing to object or file a pretrial motion regarding the violation of the prison rules as that is irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial; C. Failing to object or file a pretrial motion to prohibit the state from referring to her under her prior name, Erica Jenkins; D. Failing to ask the record be recreated or ask for a mistrial when Appellant was not able to see or hear parts of the trial; E. Failing to file a motion to suppress/motion in limine regarding the statements made by Appellant after she was handcuffed and placed in a holding cell; F. Failing to request the jury to be instructed regarding self-defense because if the jury believed Appellant’s version of events, she was attacked and was entitled to act in self-defense.