S-24-0530 State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. James A. Wilson (Appellant)
Appeal from the District Court for Douglas County, Judge Horacio J. Wheelock
Attorneys: Robert W. Kortus (Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy for Appellant) and Jacob M. Waggoner (Asst. Attorney General for Appellee)
Criminal: Attempted second degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony, discharging a firearm at an occupied motor vehicle, and terroristic threats
Proceedings Below: A jury convicted Appellant of attempted second degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony, discharging a firearm at an occupied motor vehicle, and terroristic threats. Appellant was given an aggregate sentence of forty-seven (47) to eighty-one (81) years’ imprisonment. 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) Trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective in violation of the 6th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article I, §§ 3 and 11 of the Nebraska Constitution in respect to the State’s evidence of Appellant’s character presented by Appellant’s former wife, Amber Wilson, by failing to properly object at trial, move to strike, request a curative instruction or move for mistrial following improper admission of this evidence; 2) Trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective in violation of the 6th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article I, §§ 3 and 11 of the Nebraska Constitution for failing to object to the prosecutor asking Appellant improper questions on the veracity of other witnesses; 3) Trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective in violation of the 6th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article I, §§ 3 and 11 of the Nebraska Constitution for failing to object to the prosecutor asking Officer Derek Urban an improper question on the veracity of Appellant witness; 4) Trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective in violation of the 6th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article I, §§ 3 and 11 of the Nebraska Constitution for failing to object to or seek reduction of impermissible character evidence in Exhibit 59; 5) Trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective in violation of the 6th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article I, §§ 3 and 11 of the Nebraska Constitution by failing to properly object at trial following improper admission of unduly emotional and inflammatory evidence relating to a prior Omaha Police Officer killed in the line of duty–Jimmy Wilson, Jr.; and 6) Trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective in violation of the 6th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article I, §§ 3 and 11 of the Nebraska Constitution by failing to properly object at trial following improper admission of unduly emotional and inflammatory evidence relating to a prior description given by Appellant of some of the participants in the situation involving Kapreese Spaulding-Thomas as a couple of black kids.