State v. Cullen, 292 Neb. 30

Cullen was convicted of intentional child abuse resulting in death of Cash Bell.
Evidence at trial included Cash’s prior injuries while in Cullen’s care (weeks before Feb. 28, 2013).
State sought to admit prior injuries as 404(2) evidence but argued they were inextricably intertwined with the charged offense.
District court ruled prior daycare injuries inadmissible under 404(2) due to prejudice; allowed limited evidence about communications between Cullen and Ashley.
Court ultimately held the prior injuries were inextricably intertwined and admissible, and affirmed conviction and sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether prior injuries were admissible under 404(2) as intertwined evidence	Cullen; injuries improper under 404(2)	State; injuries inextricably intertwined with charged crime	Admissible; intrinsic/extrinsic intertwined exception applies
Whether prosecutorial closing statements denied Cullen a fair trial	Prosecutor’s remarks about lack of emotion were prejudicial	No misconduct; remarks fall within permissible commentary	No reversible error; plain error not shown; no prosecutorial misconduct
Whether sentence of 70 years to life was excessive	Sentence excessive given factors	Within statutory range and justified by circumstances	Not an abuse of discretion; sentence affirmed
Whether trial counsel was ineffective for various failures	Failures prejudiced defense	Record insufficient to prove ineffectiveness; many claims fail	No merit or non-reviewable on direct appeal; affirmed overall conviction
Whether plain error existed from admission of evidence or closing remarks given preservation rules	Plain error due to admissibility and misconduct	Not preserved; plain error not shown	No plain error; issues rejected

State v. Ortega, 290 Neb. 172 (2015) (context for rule 404/intrinsic evidence discussions)
State v. Bauldwin, 283 Neb. 678 (2012) (prior bad acts—404(2) and related issues)
State v. Abdullah, 289 Neb. 123 (2014) (voluntariness/ admissibility considerations)
State v. Castillo-Zamora, 289 Neb. 382 (2014) (voluntariness/admissibility considerations)
State v. Baker, 280 Neb. 752 (2010) (intrinsic/extrinsic evidence in sexual/physical abuse context)
State v. McPherson, 266 Neb. 734 (2003) (intrinsic evidence when closely connected to charged crimes)
State v. Smith, 286 Neb. 856 (2013) (threats and related conduct as part of factual setting)
State v. Freemont, 284 Neb. 179 (2012) (limits of intrinsic/extrinsic exception in certain cases)
State v. Kuehn, 273 Neb. 219 (2007) (two prior injuries admissible to negate absence of mistake/accident)
State v. Chavez, 281 Neb. 99 (2011) (remote injuries in battered-child context; admissibility and harmless error)