Latest news with #NebraskaCourtofAppeals
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nebraska AG's office asks appeals court to reconsider dismissal of history case
The scales of justice are shown outside of the Nebraska Supreme Court. The Nebraska Attorney General's Office is pursuing a case again at the Nebraska Court of Appeals. (Courtesy of Rebecca S. Gratz) LINCOLN — The Nebraska Attorney General's office, as promised, is challenging a State Court of Appeals dismissal of its prosecution of the former director of the state historical society. In a rarely filed and sometimes sharply worded 'motion for rehearing,' state prosecutors maintain that the Appeals Court erred in granting a dismissal last month of the theft by deception charge faced by former director Trevor Jones. The 21-page request, signed by acting Solicitor General Zachary Viglianco, argues that was wrong to dismiss the felony charge without hearing arguments by the AG's office, and that the dismissal was premature by not giving the AG's office 10 days to contest it. The court granted a 'summary dismissal' of the charge faced by Jones, thus discharging the prosecution without hearing arguments from the AG's office. 'Inexplicably,' the AG's request states, 'the court granted Jones' motion two days before the state's response deadline had run. That was error. And one with profound consequences.' 'The court's premature ruling,' the motion continues, 'signals to litigants that they cannot rely on the straightforward adherence to and application of the court's own rules.' On Thursday, a lawyer representing Jones, Michael Wilson of Omaha, asked the Appeals Court to uphold the dismissal, arguing the the AG's office relied on the wrong court precedents in seeking to revive its prosecution. The response and the request for rehearing, filed April 3, are the latest twists in the prosecution of Jones. He is accused of misdirecting $270,000 in donations from a private foundation into another foundation he controlled, rather than using the money, as intended, to cover agency financial losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. Jones resigned the $164,800-a-year director's job in 2022, shortly before a State Auditor's report raised questions about the legality of the funds diversion. In January, Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong tossed out the felony charge faced by Jones, ruling that state prosecutors had failed to bring him to trial within the state's speedy trial deadline. Then, last month, Nebraska Court of Appeals Judge Frankie Moore granted a dismissal of the state's appeal, ruling that state prosecutors had failed to follow proper procedure in appealing the lower court's dismissal. State prosecutors, via the motion for rehearing, are now asking the Appeals Court to reconsider and to let them revive the case against Jones. The AG's office, in its recent motion, argued that dismissing the case — which it called 'a high-profile criminal case involving a public official' — on technical grounds without allowing the state to present any argument undercuts the 'the fair administration of justice' and the opportunity to hear 'two sides to every story.' The Appeals Court had not issued a response to the state's rehearing motion as of late this week. When the case was dismissed last month, Jones' lead attorney Mallory Hughes of Omaha, told the Examiner that she had been 'very confident' that the Court of Appeals would dismiss the case and was equally confident that further appeals would not be successful. Jones, 52, had headed the agency he renamed 'History Nebraska' for six years before his resignation. Gov. Jim Pillen has since revived the agency's long-time name, the Nebraska State Historical Society and installed as director a former Adjutant General of the Nebraska National Guard, Daryl Bohac. Eric Hamilton, who had served as Solicitor General for the AG's office since 2023, recently left that post to take a job with the U.S. Department of Justice in the Trump Administration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
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
