State v. Gonzalez, 985 N.W.2d 22

In 2021 Jake J. Gonzalez lived with the mother (B.S.) and her young son H.S.; H.S. died from blunt-force abdominal trauma (split liver) after injuries observed at the apartment.
Gonzalez was charged in Jefferson County with intentional child abuse resulting in death (and making terroristic threats); he was convicted by a jury and sentenced to concurrent long terms of imprisonment.
Prior to final jury selection Gonzalez moved for a change of venue, asserting pervasive pretrial publicity and juror bias; the district court denied the motion after voir dire and selection of jurors who said they could be fair and impartial.
At trial the court instructed the jury on intentional child abuse resulting in death and the lesser-included offense negligent child abuse resulting in death; Gonzalez requested an additional instruction on involuntary manslaughter, which the court refused.
On appeal Gonzalez argued (1) the court abused its discretion by denying change of venue and (2) the failure to give an involuntary manslaughter instruction violated due process (structural/error).

Issue	State's Argument	Gonzalez's Argument	Held
Change of venue for pretrial publicity	Publicity was not shown by affidavits or evidence to be pervasive/misleading; enough venire could be impartial after voir dire	Pretrial publicity and many prospective jurors admitted bias, so fair jury impossible in Jefferson County	Denial affirmed — no abuse of discretion; Gonzalez failed to prove pervasive misleading publicity and voir dire produced impartial jurors
Whether involuntary manslaughter is a required lesser-included instruction	Jury was instructed on negligent child abuse (a closely equivalent lesser offense with same penalty); manslaughter instruction unnecessary and would not have changed outcome	Failure to instruct on involuntary manslaughter violated due process and risked unwarranted conviction	If error, it was harmless: negligent child-abuse instruction gave the jury the noncapital/lesser option and the guilty verdict on intentional abuse shows jury rejected negligence

State v. Sinica, 277 Neb. 629, 764 N.W.2d 111 (Neb. 2009) (held involuntary manslaughter is a lesser-included offense of child abuse resulting in death and analyzed need for lesser-included instructions)
State v. Strohl, 255 Neb. 918, 587 N.W.2d 675 (Neb. 1999) (upheld denial of change of venue where many jurors had heard publicity but could set aside opinions)
Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625 (U.S. 1980) (due process requires lesser-included instructions where refusal increases risk of unwarranted conviction)
State v. Molina, 271 Neb. 488, 713 N.W.2d 412 (Neb. 2006) (harmlessness where jury necessarily rejected evidence supporting lesser offense)
State v. Huff, 282 Neb. 78, 802 N.W.2d 77 (Neb. 2011) (refusal to give a requested lesser instruction found nonprejudicial where other lesser instructions allowed noncapital conviction)