State v. Lester, 295 Neb. 878

Background

On April 14, 2014, a confrontation at an Omaha park escalated into a shooting in which Tielor Williams was killed and another person was injured; Adrian Lester was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, robbery, attempted robbery, and four felony weapon enhancements.
Several eyewitnesses (including Terpstra, Freedom, Victoria) identified Lester as the shooter; other testimony was inconsistent about who fired and what the shooter wore. Some eyewitnesses had smoked marijuana shortly before the incident.
Physical items (an orange shirt and a gold lighter) linked to Lester were recovered at a co-defendant’s house but were not tested for DNA; defense emphasized investigative gaps and witness inconsistencies.
At jury selection the State used peremptory strikes to remove two black prospective jurors; Lester raised a Batson challenge focused on one juror (P.S.). The trial court found the State’s race-neutral explanations persuasive and denied the Batson challenge.
The court excluded a proposed impeachment statement from a defense witness (Jaslyn) about hearing Terpstra say he had a gun two months earlier; the jury convicted Lester on all counts and the district court denied his motion for new trial. Lester appealed, asserting Batson error, erroneous exclusion of impeachment evidence, error denying a new trial (prosecutorial misconduct and newly discovered Facebook evidence), and insufficiency of the evidence.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Lester)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Batson challenge to State's peremptory strike of P.S.	Strike was racially motivated because few black jurors remained; State’s proffered reasons were pretextual.	Strike was for race-neutral reasons: P.S. had speech/understanding issues, a technical/software mindset, and focused on drugs/alcohol affecting memory (unfavorable to State).	Court (de novo/legal; clear-error factual review) upheld State: reasons not inherently discriminatory and trial court’s credibility finding not clearly erroneous.
Exclusion of impeachment testimony (Jaslyn overhearing Terpstra say he had a gun 2 months earlier)	Testimony impeaches Terpstra’s denial of prior gun possession and supports alternate shooter theory; admissible under impeachment rules.	Testimony was hearsay/improper extrinsic impeachment and too remote.	Even if exclusion were error, it was harmless because other evidence and testimony already undermined Terpstra’s credibility; no reversal.
Motion for new trial — prosecutorial misconduct (implying defendant should test evidence)	Prosecutor’s closing implied Lester had burden to test evidence, shifting burden of proof and warranting mistrial.	Comment responded to detective’s testimony that defense could request testing; jury instructions and defense counsel’s argument preserved burden on State.	Denial affirmed: no abuse of discretion. Court found jury instructions and defense arguments cured any potential prejudice.
Motion for new trial — newly discovered Facebook post by co-defendant Brewer	Brewer’s post expresses that he was identified as shooter and thereby exculpates Lester; new, material evidence justifying new trial.	Post was public, discoverable, ambiguous and not exculpatory; not newly discovered in the requisite sense.	Denial affirmed: post ambiguous and not likely to produce different result; not newly discovered under standard.
Sufficiency of the evidence to support convictions	Witness contradictions and investigative gaps undermine proof; convictions unsupported.	Viewed most favorably to prosecution, testimony and physical links were sufficient for a rational jury to convict.	Affirmed: conflicts and credibility are for the jury; evidence was sufficient.

Key Cases Cited

Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (prohibits peremptory strikes based solely on race)
Foster v. Chatman, 136 S. Ct. 1737 (analysis of whether prosecutor’s proffered reasons are pretext for racial discrimination)
Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U.S. 472 (procedural guidance on Batson burden-shifting and trial-court demeanor findings)
State v. Oliveira-Coutinho, 291 Neb. 294 (Nebraska Batson framework and three-step analysis)
State v. McHenry, 250 Neb. 614 (merger of underlying felony with felony murder; cited for sentencing merger principle)