Death Penalty and Death Row
Nebraska
Types of Murder:

First Degree:
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

Premeditation!
Fully conscious of
the act.
Malice Aforethought

Killing deliberately
and intentionally.
Types of Murder:

Second Degree



“Heat of the
Moment”
No premeditation
SOMETIMES
connected to
‘commission of
another crime’
Types of Murder


Third Degree
Manslaughter in
most states!



Creating a
dangerous situation
that leads to death.
Murder caused
without
premeditation and
willfulness.
Lack of malice.
Manslaughter divides into two
types:
VOLUNTARY
MANSLAUGHTER:
You knew that the
situation was
dangerous.
Manslaughter divides into two
types:

Involuntary
Manslaughter:

You didn’t
necessarily know the
situation was
dangerous.

DEPENDS ON A
LOT OF THINGS!
Nebraska is “Unique” in the
checklist for the death penalty




Premeditation
Fully Conscious of
what you are doing
(no delusions /
psychosis)
Malice
VICTIM SUFFERING

ONLY in Nebraska
Death Sentences:



JURIES, not judges,
decide if death should
be given.
3 judge panel
immediately reviews
the case to see if due
process was followed.
1 appeal is paid for by
the state.
Death Sentences


After one appeal it is
up to the defendant.
May appeal ONLY on
due process
questions – not guilt
or innocence!
Who sits on Nebraska’s Death
Row?

Carey Dean Moore:
Sentenced for the
murder of two Omaha
cabdrivers in 1979.


Said he wanted to kill
“older” men because he
thought they’d fight him
less as he robbed them
than killing someone his
age.
Called several times and
waited and watched for the
right “marks.”
Michael Ryan

Sentenced for the
brutal torture and
murder of three
members of his
religious cult on a
farm outside of Rulo,
Nebraska in 1985.
John Lotter

John Lotter: Sentenced
for the December 1993
murders of Teena
Brandon, Lisa Lambert
and Philip Devinein
Humbolt in December
1993. His accomplice,
David Nissen receive a
life-sentence in return for
his testimony against
Lotter.
David Dunster “Suicide by State”

David Dunster:
Sentenced for killing his
cell mate, Jerry Witt, in
1997 while serving a
sentence in Nebraska for
two previous killings; a
1972 rape and murder of
an Oregon woman and
the 1979 killing of a fellow
cell mate.
Who sits on Nebraska’s Death
Row?

Raymond Mata Jr.:
Sentenced in 2000 for
killing and
dismembering Adam
Gomez, his
girlfriend's young son,
in Scottsbluff,
Nebraska.
Who sits on Nebraska’s Death
Row?

Arthur Lee Gales Jr.:
Given two death
sentences in November
2001 for two counts of
first-degree murder and
one count of attempted
first-degree murder for
the Nov. 12, 2000 deaths
of Latara and Tramar
Chandler and the beating
of their mother, 36-yearold Judy Chandler.
Jeffrey Hessler: 2005

Hessler raped and killed
15-year-old Heather
Guerrero execution style
after he kidnapped her at
the end of her paper
route. Her body was
found in the basement of
an abandoned home.
After he was arrested for
the Guerrerro case,
Hessler was convicted of
raping another papergirl
in a nearby city six
months earlier.
For the Norfolk Bank Robberies

Jose Sandoval: One
of four men convicted
of killing 5 people in a
U.S. Bank branch in
Norfolk, NE on Sept.
26, 2002.
For the Norfolk Bank Robberies

Jorge Galindo: One
of four men convicted
of killing 5 people in a
U.S. Bank branch in
Norfolk, NE on Sept.
26, 2002.
Recently Released from Death
Row

In 1999 Jerry
Simpson and
Clarence Victor were
taken off of
Nebraska's death row
due to a law passed
in 1998 that prohibits
the execution of
people with IQ scores
of less than 70.
Recently Released From Death
Row

On January 7, 2000 the
Nebraska Supreme Court
vacated the death
sentence of Randy
Reeves stating that the
1991 Nebraska Supreme
Court had acted
unconstitutionally.
Reeves had been
sentenced to death for
the drug induced murder
of Janet Mesner and
Victoria Lamm in Lincoln
on March 29, 1980
Recently Released From Death
Row

2001 Jeremy Sheets
was released after
prosecutors decided not
to retry his case. Sheets
had been sentenced to
death for the September
23, 1992 kidnapping and
murder of Kenyatta Bush.

Confession of codefendant Adam Barnett
violated 5th Amendment.
Recently Released from Death
Row

On August 3rd, 2001
Peter Hochstein and
Michael Anderson had
their sentences
commuted to life in
prison. Anderson and
Hochstein were
sentenced to death for
the 1975 murder-for-hire
of Omaha real estate
businessman Abboud.
Cheated the Chair

Charles Jess
Palmer: Sentenced
for the 1979 murder
of a Mr. Zimmerman
in Grand Island.
Palmer died on death
row of natural causes
in the Summer of
2006.
Cheated the Chair

2001 Roger Bjorklund
was found unresponsive
in his cell and was later
pronounced dead at a
Lincoln hospital. It has
been stated Bjorklund
died "not of natural
causes," but this
mysterious statement has
not yet been further
explained
Executed in Nebraska since 1976



Harold Lamont
"Wili" Otey was
executed in 1994.
John Joubert was
executed in 1996.
Robert Williams was
executed December
2, 1997