Latest news with #HistoryNebraska
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Yahoo
Legal battle erupts over whether AG's Office failed to properly file appeal in Trevor Jones case
The Nebraska State Historical Society is located just off the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus at 1500 R St. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — A legal battle has erupted over whether a felony theft charge against the former director of History Nebraska, Trevor Jones, should finally be dismissed. The issue is whether the Nebraska Attorney General's Office failed to promptly file an appeal over the dismissal of a theft by deception charge that had been filed against Jones. If the appeal was filed too late, the prosecution of Jones, who resigned the $164,800-a-year director's job in 2022, could be over before any arguments are heard by the Nebraska Court of Appeals. In January, Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong tossed out the felony charge Jones faced, ruling that prosecutors had failed to bring him to trial within the state's speedy trial deadline. On March 5, Nebraska Court of Appeals Judge Frankie Moore asked state lawyers to demonstrate whether they had properly complied with a statute that requires appeals be applied within 20 days of such a dismissal, and whether the fee to appeal had been paid. 'The record now before us does not indicate that the State (Attorney General's Office) has followed the requirements,' the judge wrote. In a March 12 response, the AG's office said the clerk of the Appeals Court had filed their appeal under the incorrect statute, and that prosecutors had complied with another statute that allows 30 days to appeal a final order by a district court judge. A notice of appeal was filed on Feb. 20 to the Jan. 21 dismissal of the charge, according to a brief listing Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Assistant Attorney General Erin Tangeman, and that the docket fee was intended to be paid via an AG's account kept by the court system. That give and take was followed Monday by a request from Jones' lawyers to sustain a 'summary dismissal' of the charge against Jones because prosecutors had cited the wrong state statute and had failed to properly file their appeal. The Appeals Court had not issued a ruling on the purported errors as of Wednesday afternoon. Jones, now 52, was a controversial figure during the six years he headed the Nebraska State Historical Society. He changed the agency's name to 'History Nebraska' during his tenure and won praise for seeking to modernize and digitize the agency's collections. But he earned scorn from some employees — and high turnover — for a heavy-handed management system he imposed requiring workers to, for instance, frequently document how many files they had scanned. Judge dismisses felony charge against former state historical society director He resigned shortly before a critical state audit was released in 2022. The audit raised concerns about his handling of $270,000 in donations from the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation to cover the agency's financial losses expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of depositing the donations with the State Treasurer, as legally required, Jones funneled the money into a new private foundation he had set up to replace the State Historical Society Foundation. He had quarreled with its leaders. The money was never used to cover COVID losses. Ultimately, the Attorney General's office filed the felony charge against Jones, which carried a possible prison sentence of up to 20 years. Jones had pleaded not guilty and maintained that he could manage the donations how he saw fit. Prosecutors have maintained that the speed trial clock had been 'halted' for a time due to a change in Jones' legal defense team and that he should still stand trial for the theft offense. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
AG appeals dismissal of case against former History Nebraska director
The Nebraska State Historical Society, the state agency in charge of overseeing historical records for the state, was embroiled in questions about how one of its former directors handled donated funds. Shown is the Nebraska History Museum. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — As promised, the Nebraska Attorney General's Office has appealed the dismissal of its case alleging that the former director of History Nebraska illegally transferred funds donated to the agency. A formal notice of appeal was filed late last week and was accepted by the Nebraska Court of Appeals on Monday. In December, Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong dismissed the felony theft by deception charge against former director Trevor Jones. She ruled that prosecutors with the AG's office had violated Jones' right to a speedy trial. Jones' defense attorney, Mallory Hughes, had asked for the dismissal, maintaining that prosecutors had failed to request a trial date within the six allowed months. She argued that Jones should have stood trial by Sept. 12, six months, minus exclusions, after the case had been bound over to the Lancaster County District Court. In her 12-page ruling, Strong rejected arguments by the Attorney General's office that the speedy trial clock had been 'halted' when Jones' former defense attorney, John Ball, asked to withdraw from the case a year ago, and because his formal request had not been approved by the court. The AG's office was ordered by the Court of Appeals to provide written arguments on why the prosecution should be restored by May 12. Jones, 52, resigned the $164,800-a-year director's job in 2022, shortly before a critical state audit was released that questioned his handling of $270,000 in donations from the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation to cover the agency's financial losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of depositing those funds with the Treasurer's Office, as legally required, Jones funneled the money into a new foundation Jones had set up to replace the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation, with whom he'd had disagreements. The money was never used to cover COVID losses. Jones had pleaded not guilty to the felony charge, which carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison. He was a controversial figure as director of the history agency, winning praise for leading to greater digitization of historical documents, but also earning scorn from some employees for implementing a heavy-handed and time-consuming management system. The agency has been plagued by high staff turnover since. Jones rebranded the agency as 'History Nebraska,' a move rescinded by Gov. Jim Pillen, who restored the agency's historic title, the 'Nebraska State Historical Society.' Pillen recently named Daryl Bohac, a former adjutant general of the Nebraska National Guard, to lead the agency. The Society had operated under interim directors for more than two years after Jones' departure. Due to action by the Legislature, was made a code agency last summer under the control of the governor. That step ended more than a century of being an independent entity governed by a Board of Trustees. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
