State v. Kilgore, 30 Neb. Ct. App. 273

On August 27–28, 2019, Marcus Kilgore disciplined his 9-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son with a belt after they failed to finish chores; the daughter received a red welt on her lower back and reported pain the next day to her school counselor. Photographs of the mark were taken by police.
The State charged Kilgore with caretaker neglect (Omaha Mun. Code § 20-97) and disorderly conduct; county court convicted him of caretaker neglect, acquitted him on disorderly conduct, and sentenced him to 21 days in jail.
Kilgore appealed to the district court, asserting insufficiency of the evidence, improper admission of prior-act evidence, and that parental disciplinary force under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-1413(1) protected his conduct.
The district court held the county court abused its discretion by admitting police testimony about a prior belt use but concluded the conviction was supported by sufficient independent evidence and affirmed.
On further appeal, the Court of Appeals reviewed whether the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the State, was sufficient to establish caretaker neglect and whether the parental-force defense applied.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence to convict of caretaker neglect	State: children's testimony and photos show Kilgore negligently placed child in danger or cruelly punished her	Kilgore: punishment was reasonable discipline; injury minor and not criminal	Affirmed: a rational factfinder could find elements proved beyond a reasonable doubt
Applicability of parental-force defense (§ 28-1413(1))	State: parental force defense does not cover immoderate/unreasonable punishment that risks extreme pain or distress	Kilgore: belt discipline was a lawful, moderate parental punishment protected by statute	Held: question for factfinder; here factfinder could conclude the force was not reasonable and defense did not apply
Admission of prior-act evidence (use of belt on other occasions)	State: prior incidents showed context/habit	Kilgore: admission improper and prejudicial; no proper pretrial notice	District court: admission was an abuse of discretion, but error was harmless because other evidence independently supported conviction
Appellate standard of review	State: appellate court must view evidence most favorably to prosecution and not reweigh credibility	Kilgore: contends evidence legally insufficient	Held: applied standard; appellate court will not reweigh and affirmed conviction if a rational trier of fact could find guilt

State v. Collins, 307 Neb. 581 (2020) (district court as intermediate appellate reviewer and review limited to record error)
State v. Price, 306 Neb. 38 (2020) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of evidence in criminal cases)
Maria A. on behalf of Leslie G. v. Oscar G., 301 Neb. 673 (2018) (§ 28-1413 codifies common-law parental-force defense)
State v. Figures, 308 Neb. 801 (2021) (appellate sufficiency inquiry: could any rational trier of fact find elements beyond reasonable doubt)
State v. Sinica, 220 Neb. 792 (1985) (distinguishing reasonable disciplinary measures from cruel punishment)
State v. Miner, 216 Neb. 309 (1984) (reasonableness of parental discipline is a question for the factfinder)