State v. Hessler, 295 Neb. 70

Background

In 2003, Jeffrey Hessler pled no contest to first-degree sexual assault of J.B., a child under 16, and was sentenced to 30–42 years; he did not appeal that conviction.
At the same time Hessler faced separate charges (including capital murder) for the death of Heather Guerrero; counsel pursued a global strategy across both cases to avoid use of the J.B. conviction as an aggravator in the Guerrero trial.
Hessler later was convicted and sentenced to death in the Guerrero case; those convictions and prior postconviction challenges were affirmed on appeal.
In 2012 Hessler filed a combined postconviction motion and petition for a writ of error coram nobis seeking relief from the J.B. conviction, alleging incompetence to plead and multiple instances of ineffective assistance of trial counsel (plea advice, failure to investigate/present mitigation, and failure to advise/seek direct appeal).
The district court held an evidentiary hearing (depositions of trial counsel and mental-health clinicians; Hessler did not testify) and denied postconviction relief and coram nobis relief; Hessler appealed.
The Supreme Court affirmed, concluding Hessler failed to prove incompetence, failed to show deficient performance or prejudice under Strickland as to plea advice, mitigation, and appeal-advice claims, and that most claims were inappropriate for coram nobis relief.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Competence to plead	Hessler: was bipolar with psychotic features in 2003 and thus incompetent to enter no-contest plea; counsel ineffective for not pursuing competency hearing	State: record and clinicians showed Hessler understood charges, consequences, counsel, and the plea; no indication of incompetence	Court held Hessler failed to prove he was incompetent or that court would have found him incompetent; counsel not ineffective on this ground
Counsel's advice to plead no contest	Hessler: counsel’s plea strategy (to create a final conviction to block use as an aggravator) was legally unsound and constituted deficient advice	State: counsel reasonably advised plea given Hessler’s confession, failed suppression efforts, DNA evidence, Hessler’s desire to avoid trial, and global strategy tied to capital case	Court held advice was not deficient; Hessler did not show he would have insisted on trial but for counsel’s advice
Failure to investigate/present mitigating evidence at sentencing	Hessler: counsel failed to develop/present mental-health mitigation that could affect sentencing competence	State: record lacked additional mitigating evidence; clinicians indicated Hessler understood proceedings and consequences	Court held Hessler presented no evidence of mitigation counsel failed to discover; claim denied
Failure to advise/file direct appeal	Hessler: counsel failed to advise or file appeal; lost opportunity to raise colorable issues (e.g., lack of verbatim plea record)	State: Hessler never requested counsel to appeal; plea waived many issues; no demonstrated prejudice or meritorious issues that would have changed outcome	Court held no evidence Hessler asked for an appeal; no presumed prejudice; claim denied

Key Cases Cited

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-prong standard for ineffective assistance: deficient performance and prejudice)
State v. Dunkin, 283 Neb. 30 (2012) (competence standard to plead/stand trial; prejudice test for failure to investigate competence)
State v. Saylor, 294 Neb. 492 (2016) (appellate review of Strickland performance and prejudice is de novo)
State v. Hessler, 288 Neb. 670 (2014) (prior Hessler coram nobis/postconviction rulings; ineffective-assistance claims inappropriate for coram nobis relief)
State v. Harris, 292 Neb. 186 (2015) (Postconviction Act relief not concurrent with coram nobis)
State v. Deckard, 272 Neb. 410 (2006) (lack of verbatim record may not violate due process when journal entries suffice for postconviction review)
State v. Harrison, 293 Neb. 1000 (2016) (standards for coram nobis relief and appellate review)
State v. Sandoval, 288 Neb. 754 (2014) (existence of coram nobis under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 49-101)
State v. Starks, 294 Neb. 361 (2016) (scope of Nebraska Postconviction Act)