State v. Short

310 Neb. 81, 964 N.W.2d 272
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 17, 2021
DocketS-19-415
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 310 Neb. 81 (State v. Short) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Short, 310 Neb. 81, 964 N.W.2d 272 (Neb. 2021).

Opinion

Nebraska Supreme Court Online Library www.nebraska.gov/apps-courts-epub/ 12/10/2021 08:08 AM CST

- 81 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 310 Nebraska Reports STATE v. SHORT Cite as 310 Neb. 81

State of Nebraska, appellee, v. Marcus L. Short, appellant. ___ N.W.2d ___

Filed September 17, 2021. No. S-19-415.

1. Judgments: Speedy Trial: Appeal and Error. Generally, a trial court’s determination as to whether charges should be dismissed on speedy trial grounds is a factual question which will be affirmed on appeal unless clearly erroneous. 2. Pretrial Procedure: Appeal and Error. Trial courts have broad dis- cretion with respect to sanctions involving discovery procedures, and their rulings thereon will not be reversed in the absence of an abuse of discretion. 3. Constitutional Law: Search and Seizure: Motions to Suppress: Appeal and Error. In reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to sup- press evidence based on a claimed violation of the Fourth Amendment, an appellate court applies a two-part standard of review. Regarding historical facts, an appellate court reviews the trial court’s findings for clear error, but whether those facts trigger or violate Fourth Amendment protections is a question of law that an appellate court reviews indepen- dently of the trial court’s determination. 4. Search Warrants: Affidavits: Probable Cause: Appeal and Error. An appellate court reviews the trial court’s findings as to whether the affidavit supporting the warrant contained falsehoods or omissions and whether those were made intentionally or with reckless disregard for the truth for clear error. An appellate court reviews de novo the determina- tion that any alleged falsehoods or omissions were not necessary to the probable cause finding. 5. ____: ____: ____: ____. After-the-fact scrutiny by courts of the suf- ficiency of an affidavit should not take the form of de novo review. Instead, a judge’s determination of probable cause to issue a search war- rant should be paid great deference by reviewing courts. 6. Search and Seizure. Application of the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule is a question of law. - 82 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 310 Nebraska Reports STATE v. SHORT Cite as 310 Neb. 81

7. Constitutional Law: Speedy Trial. The right to a speedy trial is unique from other rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution for the protection of the accused because there is a societal interest in providing a speedy trial, which exists separate from, and at times in opposition to, the inter- ests of the accused. 8. Speedy Trial: Witnesses. The deprivation of the right to a speedy trial may work to the accused’s advantage when adverse witnesses become unavailable or their memories fade over time. 9. Speedy Trial: Presumptions. Until there is some delay that is presump- tively prejudicial, there is no necessity for inquiry into the other factors that go into the balance in determining if the right to a speedy trial has been violated. 10. Constitutional Law: Speedy Trial. Counsel cannot seek and obtain continuances to give the defense more time to be ready for trial because of the government’s dilatory behavior and then, after the fact, reverse course and claim that the indictment should be dismissed on the ground that the defendant’s right to a speedy trial under the U.S. Constitution has been infringed because of that behavior. 11. Speedy Trial. A defendant cannot claim the loss of the fundamental right to a speedy trial through the inherent delays of a process the defendant has called upon—even if that process was to vindicate another fundamental right. 12. Constitutional Law: Speedy Trial: New Trial: Appeal and Error. Absent extraordinary circumstances, an appellate court does not con- sider the entire period of time beginning with the original charge or arrest in computing the length of the delay when there has been a mis- trial. Instead, the constitutional speedy trial analysis focuses only on the period after the mandate for a new trial and the subsequent retrial. 13. Speedy Trial. Only misconduct involving deliberate delay tactics designed to circumvent the right to a speedy trial is an extraordinary circumstance warranting consideration of the period of delay before a mistrial. 14. Constitutional Law: Speedy Trial: Presumptions. A delay of a year or more is the benchmark commonly recognized as presumptively prejudi- cial in a constitutional speedy trial analysis. 15. Speedy Trial: Verdicts: Sentences. The more complex and serious the crime, the longer a delay might be tolerated, because society also has an interest in ensuring that longer sentences are rendered upon the most exact verdicts possible. 16. Constitutional Law: Prosecuting Attorneys: Evidence. A defendant has a constitutionally protected privilege to request and obtain from the prosecution evidence that is either material to the guilt of the defendant or relevant to the punishment to be imposed. - 83 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 310 Nebraska Reports STATE v. SHORT Cite as 310 Neb. 81

17. Police Officers and Sheriffs: Prosecuting Attorneys: Evidence. Police conduct resulting in suppression of favorable material evidence is imputed to the prosecution. 18. Due Process: Motions for Continuance: Evidence. There is no due process violation when the defendant has had an opportunity to request a continuance to adequately prepare the defense in light of evidence that, while disclosed late, is ultimately disclosed before the end of trial. 19. Constitutional Law: Speedy Trial. The Fifth Amendment has only a limited role to play in protecting against oppressive delay in the crimi- nal context. 20. Criminal Law: Pretrial Procedure. Discovery in a criminal case is generally controlled by either a statute or a court rule. 21. Criminal Law: Courts. When a court sanctions the government in a criminal case for its failure to obey court orders, it must use the least severe sanction that will adequately punish the government and secure future compliance. 22. Pretrial Procedure: Dismissal and Nonsuit. Dismissal as a sanction for a discovery violation is only appropriate where less drastic alterna- tives are not available. 23. Judgments: Words and Phrases. An abuse of discretion occurs when a trial court’s decision is based upon reasons that are untenable or unrea- sonable or if its action is clearly against justice or conscience, reason, and evidence. 24. Search Warrants: Affidavits: Probable Cause. To determine whether a warrant was issued upon probable cause, a court generally limits its review to the four corners of the affidavit. 25. Affidavits: Evidence. An exception to the limitation of the court’s review to the four corners of the affidavit is where the defendant makes a preliminary proffer of falsity warranting an evidentiary hearing. 26. Affidavits: Probable Cause: Hearsay. Probable cause may be founded upon hearsay as well as upon information within the affiant’s own knowledge that sometimes must be garnered hastily. 27. Search Warrants: Affidavits: Probable Cause: Police Officers and Sheriffs: Presumptions: Proof. While there is a presumption of valid- ity with respect to the affidavit supporting the search warrant, that pre- sumption may be overcome and a search warrant may be invalidated if the defendant proves the affiant officer knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth, included in the affidavit false or misleading statements that were necessary, or material, to establishing probable cause. 28. Search Warrants: Affidavits: Probable Cause. Omissions in an affida- vit used to obtain a search warrant are considered to be misleading when the facts contained in the omitted material tend to weaken or damage - 84 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 310 Nebraska Reports STATE v. SHORT Cite as 310 Neb. 81

the inferences which can logically be drawn from the facts as stated in the affidavit.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
310 Neb. 81, 964 N.W.2d 272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-short-neb-2021.