S-25-0300 and S-25-0301 State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. Zachary S. Reeves (Appellant)
Appeal from the District Court for Nemaha County, Judge Julie D. Smith
Attorneys: Adam J. Sipple (SippleLaw for Appellant) and Melissa R. Vincent (Asst. Attorney General for Appellee)
Criminal: First-degree sexual assault
Proceedings Below: The State charged Appellant with two counts of first- degree sexual assault, which were consolidated for trial. A jury convicted Appellant on both counts, and the district court gave him concurrent sentences of five (5) to twenty (20) 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 erred by giving a voluntary intoxication instruction, providing in part: “A person who is intoxicated is criminally responsible for his or her conduct;” 2) The district court erred by failing to grant Appellant’s motion to dismiss both cases because the County Attorney, who participated in the investigation and made the charging decision, had a conflict of interest resulting from his knowledge Appellant had sexual relations with the County Attorney’s wife, and allegedly sexually assaulted her, while the two were married; 3) Appellant received ineffective assistance when his counsel failed to object to testimony from the lead investigator and the State’s designated representative, Nathan Boden, that witness Alyssa Garzen gave false testimony on Appellant’s behalf; 4) Appellant received ineffective assistance because his counsel failed to introduce Clover time records from the bar thought they would have impeached A.C.‘s testimony that she quit working for Appellant immediately after her encounter with him; and 5) Appellant received ineffective assistance when his counsel failed to introduce into evidence a video impeaching A.C.’s testimony she did 5 not spend time in the bar after the encounter when Appellant was present.