State v. Brown, 317 Neb. 273

Marcus Brown was charged and convicted of theft by unlawful taking of two scissor lifts from a Menards distribution center, valued at over $5,000, making it a Class IIA felony.
Brown, a contractor with prior working relationships at Menards locations, argued he borrowed the lifts for a construction project and intended to return them, which he eventually did after law enforcement's involvement.
The district court sentenced Brown to 90 days in jail followed by 3 years of probation with a restitution order of about $11,000, and community service.
During jury deliberations, an issue arose where jurors accessed irrelevant video evidence and used Microsoft Paint to manipulate evidence, but the court admonished the jury and continued trial.
Brown appealed, raising insufficiency of evidence, improper restitution, ineffective assistance of counsel, and jury misconduct as errors.
The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but found plain error in the sentencing structure, vacating the sentence and remanding for resentencing.

Issue	Brown's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence (intent)	Brown lacked intent to permanently deprive; he meant to borrow and return lifts.	Intent could be inferred from Brown's actions, delay in return, and lack of notice.	Sufficient evidence supported the conviction.
Restitution and sentencing	Order lacked evidence of direct loss; sentence not statutorily authorized.	Sentence and restitution within court's discretion and record.	Sentence structure was plain error; remanded.
Ineffective assistance: impeachment	Counsel failed to impeach Menards witness for bias due to pending civil suit.	Civil suit filed post-investigation, so no bias; record insufficient for review.	Record inadequate for review on direct appeal.
Jury misconduct (extraneous evidence)	Jury's manipulation of evidence and viewing unrelated video prejudiced trial.	No prejudice; jury merely magnified admitted image and was properly admonished.	No serious misconduct; admonition was sufficient.

State v. Allen, 314 Neb. 663 (Neb. 2023) (standard for sufficiency of the evidence in criminal appeals)
State v. Kantaras, 294 Neb. 960 (Neb. 2016) (sentencing alternatives: jail as a condition of probation)
State v. Roth, 311 Neb. 1007 (Neb. 2022) (plain error in sentencing)
State v. Hairston, 298 Neb. 251 (Neb. 2017) (jury misconduct and use of extraneous information)
State v. Esch, 315 Neb. 482 (Neb. 2023) (ineffective assistance of counsel standard)