State v. Moore

CourtNebraska Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 19, 2023
DocketA-23-581
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Moore (State v. Moore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Moore, (Neb. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

IN THE NEBRASKA COURT OF APPEALS

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT ON APPEAL (Memorandum Web Opinion)

STATE V. MOORE

NOTICE: THIS OPINION IS NOT DESIGNATED FOR PERMANENT PUBLICATION AND MAY NOT BE CITED EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY NEB. CT. R. APP. P. § 2-102(E).

STATE OF NEBRASKA, APPELLEE, V.

SHANE M. MOORE, APPELLANT.

Filed December 19, 2023. No. A-23-581.

Appeal from the District Court for Lancaster County: RYAN S. POST, Judge. Affirmed. Trevin H. Preble, of Preble Law Firm, P.C., L.L.O., for appellant. Michael T. Hilgers, Attorney General, and Jacob M. Waggoner for appellee.

PIRTLE, Chief Judge, and MOORE and RIEDMANN, Judges. PIRTLE, Chief Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Shane M. Moore appeals the decision of the district court for Lancaster County denying his motion to waive jurisdiction to the juvenile court. We find no abuse of discretion in the court’s denial of the motion to waive jurisdiction and, therefore, affirm. II. BACKGROUND Moore is alleged to have repeatedly stabbed a 15-year-old victim, K.P., on October 13, 2022. Moore was 14 years, 11 months old at the time of the alleged offense. On January 18, 2023, Moore was charged in district court with first degree attempted murder, first degree assault, and two counts of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, all of which are Class II felonies. On April 7, Moore motioned to waive jurisdiction to the juvenile court. A hearing was held on June 26 and July 6.

-1- 1. MOORE’S HISTORY OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES Moore and his family moved to Waverly, Nebraska, from Colorado in September 2022. While living in Colorado, Moore exhibited frequent behavioral issues and suffered from severe mental health crises. Due to his aggressive behavior, Moore was suspended from school multiple times. During the 2017-18 school year, he was suspended for 3 days after choking another student. Several weeks later, he punched a student in the stomach on the school bus. As this was the second time he had punched someone on the bus, he was suspended from riding the bus for the remainder of the year. He was then suspended from school for another 3 days in 2020 due to a fight with another student and then issued a warning in 2021 for threatening to “jump” someone else. Moore’s mental health problems escalated in early November 2021, which resulted in him being hospitalized on two occasions. On November 7, he was brought to a hospital because he was self-harming and had suicidal and homicidal ideations. He reported that he wanted to “kill everyone in [his] entire family” “by cutting their throats as they [slept].” He also told providers that he attempted to kill his 14-year-old stepbrother the previous month by offering him a drink that contained crushed up medications. He stated he wanted to kill his stepbrother because his stepbrother “attempt[ed] to do stuff to [him] sexually.” Moore also reported that he attempted to kill his 15-year-old stepsister the previous day by “placing her in a headlock until she turned purple.” He stated that he only stopped choking her because she punched him in the face. With the identification of these problems, Moore was hospitalized for 5 days. According to his mother, he was only released because the hospital did not have room to house him. Approximately a month after his discharge, Moore was hospitalized in another mental health hospital for 7 days. During his second period of hospitalization, he made numerous concerning comments to the health care providers. He described that in 2 weeks, on December 18, 2021, he planned to kill his stepbrother. On that day, he planned to take him to a nearby park, “stab him in the back, stab his knees so he can’t run, and then slash his throat and cut out his heart.” He further told health care providers that he despises his stepbrother for no reason and attempted to kill him twice in the past. The first time was in August 2021, when he tried to drown him in a nearby lake. The second attempt was when he offered him a drink with crushed-up medications mixed in it. Moore also reported his prior attempt to kill his stepsister and stated that he planned to kill her “as soon as he sees her.” Moore further threatened the behavioral health specialist at the hospital saying that he was “waiting for [his] time and then [was] going to hurt [them].” He went on to say “honestly, I just want to kill someone right now. I’m trying to figure out how” and expressed that he “looks forward to killing people.” He then described a plan to stab the police officer at his school and take his gun. Additionally, Moore reported that he likes to kill animals and set fires. After he was discharged from the hospital in December 2021, Moore visited his primary care physician every two weeks and filled out mental health forms each time. Although he visited a therapist once, it was not a good match and he did not see anyone else going forward. Also following his discharge, Moore continued to take several medications to control his impulses. One of these medications was Abilify. His hospital discharge paperwork reported that the Abilify helped his depression and made him able to “control himself a lot more and constrain any angry

-2- thoughts.” However, the paperwork also suggested that Moore understood what the medical providers wanted to hear and indicated that could be a reason his behavior began to improve. In February 2022, Moore was suspended from school again. He told other students that he was expelled from his previous school for stabbing another student. He also made comments about killing other students’ families. After one of those students reported what he had said, Moore threatened that he was “going to beat the fuck out of [him] for snitching.” Due to these actions, Moore was suspended from school for 5 days. Once the family moved to Waverly in September 2022, Moore’s family lost their health insurance which impacted their ability to afford his medication. Although he was still taking two of his prescribed medications, they could not afford the Abilify prescription until they had health insurance. Without the Abilify, Moore’s mother stated that his depression resurfaced and he reverted back to his previous behaviors. Moore also regularly missed classes. His mother reported that during “the whole time he was at Waverly he completed one whole day of school.” 2. STABBING INCIDENT On October 13, 2022, Moore went to several stores in Waverly looking for a potential victim to kill. In the first store, he saw a woman but “just didn’t think [she was] the person . . . to do it to,” explaining that “it wouldn’t seem satisfying” and that “it wouldn’t fulfill . . . [his] need.” He then waited in a different store’s bathroom for someone to walk in so he “could do it then, but no one walked in.” After that, Moore talked to an employee at a car wash to determine if he could be a potential victim. That is when Moore saw K.P. walking by and thought he was someone that he “could do it to” because “he looked weak [and] easy to hurt.” Moore proceeded to follow K.P. and eventually approached him saying that he wanted to be friends. K.P. indicated that he was not interested in being friends and started to walk away. When K.P. turned his back, Moore stabbed him several times. Despite being stabbed, K.P. was able to successfully fight back and get on top of Moore. However, Moore convinced him that he would stop if K.P. let him go. After K.P. released him and began to walk away, Moore reinitiated the attack by stabbing him two more times. Moore then left K.P. on the ground, thinking that he had killed him. After the attack, Moore called the police.

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Bluebook (online)
State v. Moore, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-moore-nebctapp-2023.