State v. Johnson, A-15-994

In 1996 Jeremy L. Johnson was arrested after a Caprice Classic he was driving crashed; police found a Mossberg shotgun in the car that ballistically matched two nearby apartment shootings that night; Johnson was convicted of multiple firearm and related offenses and sentenced to 60–100 years.
At trial, witnesses tied the Caprice and shotgun to the shootings; Johnson was acquitted of a separate police-station shooting.
Johnson’s earlier direct appeal and two prior postconviction motions were denied.
In 2014–2015 Johnson received affidavits from Susan Huerta (and her father) claiming Huerta witnessed the Yates Street shooting in 1996 and observed teenage shooters, not Johnson; Huerta came forward 18 years later and later entered a romantic relationship with Johnson.
Johnson filed a third postconviction motion (claiming actual innocence based on newly discovered evidence) and alternatively a petition for writ of error coram nobis; the district court denied relief without an evidentiary hearing.
On appeal the Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed, finding Huerta’s late, relationship-tinged affidavits insufficient to meet the high thresholds for both postconviction actual-innocence relief and coram nobis.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Johnson)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Whether newly discovered evidence (Huerta affidavits) warrants a postconviction evidentiary hearing as a "strong demonstration of actual innocence"	Huerta saw teenage shooters at Yates Street, would have probably produced a different result and corroborated other witnesses	Affidavits are delayed, lack independent corroboration, and are subject to credibility attack (including Huerta's later romantic relationship with Johnson)	Denied — affidavits do not meet the extraordinarily high standard for demonstrating actual innocence and no hearing required
Whether the same evidence supports a writ of error coram nobis	Huerta's affidavit is a factual matter that would have prevented conviction if believed	New evidence would only affect credibility and weight; it might not have prevented conviction given ballistic evidence and other trial proof	Denied — coram nobis requires evidence that would have prevented conviction, not merely might have changed the result

State v. Edwards, 284 Neb. 382 (2012) (postconviction evidentiary-hearing standard; court reviews sufficiency of allegations de novo)
State v. Hessler, 288 Neb. 670 (2014) (coram nobis recognized under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 49-101 and burden on applicant)
State v. DeJong, 292 Neb. 305 (2015) (describes "extraordinarily high" threshold for actual-innocence showing in postconviction relief)
State v. Lotter, 278 Neb. 466 (2009) (postconviction new affidavit from witness recanting not automatically constitutional error)
State v. Phelps, 286 Neb. 89 (2013) (newly discovered material must be specific and non-speculative to show actual innocence)
State v. Harris, 292 Neb. 186 (2015) (coram nobis reaches previously unknown facts that would have prevented conviction)
State v. Benzel, 269 Neb. 1 (2004) (trial judge resolves witness credibility and factual conflicts)
Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390 (1993) (new evidence of innocence ordinarily goes to credibility; jury must weigh testimony)