State v. Devers, 945 N.W.2d 470

Background

In the early morning of Jan. 6, 2018, Kyle LeFlore was shot and later died after an attempted robbery outside Reign Lounge in Omaha; Larry Goynes fired the shot and stole LeFlore’s jewelry. Jason Devers was the driver of the maroon SUV in which Goynes was a passenger.
Key witnesses: Piya Milton (was in Devers’ vehicle and described Goynes as armed), two jailhouse informants (Stockdale and Sullivan) who relayed statements Devers made while in custody, and Chae Glass who saw family members wipe a handgun. Milton refused to continue her pretrial deposition citing safety concerns.
Law enforcement searches yielded controlled substances and ammunition at Devers’ residence and a 9-mm handgun wrapped in a T‑shirt seized from a Benson Towers apartment; ballistic/ammo evidence linked the ammunition to that handgun circumstantially.
Devers was charged with first degree felony murder and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony; convicted by a jury of felony murder and use of a deadly weapon, acquitted of possession by a prohibited person; sentenced to life plus 5 years consecutive.
On appeal Devers challenged: (1) termination of Milton’s deposition and denial of his motion in limine to exclude her, (2) admission of controlled‑substance and firearm evidence (relevancy/prejudice), (3) sufficiency of evidence as to his intent/knowledge regarding the robbery and firearm, and (4) multiple ineffective‑assistance‑of‑trial‑counsel claims (some reviewed on the record, others deferred).

Issues

Issue	State's Argument	Devers' Argument	Held
Termination of Milton’s deposition & denial of motion in limine to bar her testimony	Court acted within discovery statutes and provided remedy (second deposition available); denying exclusion was proper	Court abused discretion by terminating depo and then allowing Milton to testify at trial after she refused to answer at depo	Court affirmed: remedy of authorizing another deposition was sufficient; Devers waived some objections by failing to timely object to termination
Admission of controlled substances found at Devers’ home	Evidence was relevant to corroborate Milton and jailhouse informants; limiting instruction confined jury use	Probative value minimal and unfairly prejudicial; limiting instruction initially misstated as only "marijuana" so prejudice remained	Court affirmed: evidence corroborative and limiting instruction (final instruction covering all seized substances) avoided unfair prejudice
Admission of firearm found at Benson Towers	Circumstantial links (timing, family connections, wiping firearm, ammo match) made firearm relevant; any stray reference to other drugs was harmless	Minimal probative value and prejudicial because no direct link to Devers; mention of marijuana in safe unfairly prejudicial	Court affirmed: circumstantial evidence carried probative weight; single reference to "multiple packages of marijuana" (if error) was harmless
Sufficiency of evidence for felony murder and use of a firearm (intent/knowledge)	Evidence (Milton’s account, jailhouse admissions, circumstantial links) supports that Devers intended/expected robbery and knew firearm would be used; aiding/abetting covers firearm use as natural and probable consequence	Insufficient proof Devers knew or intended Goynes would rob or use the gun; relies on challenging witness credibility	Court affirmed: viewed in light most favorable to State, a rational juror could find Devers knew/expected robbery and firearm use; aiding/abetting doctrine applies
Ineffective assistance claims (selected claims on record)	Many claims insufficiently supported by record; some claims are reviewable and lack merit (e.g., limiting instruction, speedy‑trial strategy); others require postconviction development	Trial counsel failed on several fronts (limiting instruction objection, speedy‑trial evidence, failure to call/witness/expert, coercion issues, advice about testifying)	Court reviewed those claims apparent on record and rejected them; other claims left for postconviction review because record insufficient

Key Cases Cited

State v. Sierra, 305 Neb. 249, 939 N.W.2d 808 (Neb. 2020) (trial court discovery‑sanctions rulings reviewed for abuse of discretion)
State v. Lierman, 305 Neb. 289, 940 N.W.2d 529 (Neb. 2020) (standards for reviewing ineffective‑assistance claims on direct appeal and when record is sufficient)
State v. Johnson, 298 Neb. 491, 904 N.W.2d 714 (Neb. 2017) (balancing test for constitutional speedy‑trial claim)
State v. Sellers, 279 Neb. 220, 777 N.W.2d 779 (Neb. 2010) (firearm evidence with minimal nexus may be excluded as prejudicial)
State v. Mantich, 249 Neb. 311, 543 N.W.2d 181 (Neb. 1996) (aider/abbettor responsible for crimes that are natural and probable consequences of intended offense)
State v. McClain, 285 Neb. 537, 827 N.W.2d 814 (Neb. 2013) (applies Mantich reasoning to weapon‑use liability of aider/abettor)
State v. Dady, 304 Neb. 649, 936 N.W.2d 486 (Neb. 2020) (harmless‑error review focuses on whether actual verdict was attributable to the error)
State v. Freemont, 284 Neb. 179, 817 N.W.2d 277 (Neb. 2012) (recognizes corroboration as a basis for relevance of evidence)