State v. Mendez-Osorio, 297 Neb. 520

Defendant Abel Mendez-Osorio was tried by jury and convicted of: terroristic threats (Count I), use of a weapon to commit a felony (Count II), and misdemeanor negligent child abuse (Count III) arising from a September 4, 2015 domestic incident.
Victim Katia Santos-Velasquez testified defendant sharpened a machete, threatened to kill her, and she fled the mobile home with two young children, leaving the oldest child asleep inside.
Officers and neighbors observed the victim shaken, barefoot, and the younger children crying; defendant had the machete in a closet and denied wrongdoing.
On appeal the Court of Appeals affirmed convictions, rejecting several ineffective-assistance claims and holding the evidence supported negligent child abuse under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-707(1)(a).
The Nebraska Supreme Court granted further review, affirmed the Court of Appeals as to effectiveness of counsel and sufficiency of evidence for endangerment, but found plain sentencing errors, vacated all sentences, and remanded for resentencing.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
1. Whether ineffective-assistance claims can be resolved on direct appeal	State: record is sufficient to decide the specific objections and hearsay/excited-utterance issues.	Mendez-Osorio: trial counsel failed to prepare, interview witnesses, and object to leading/hearsay questions.	Court: Some specific claims rejected on the merits (excited-utterance admissible); remaining strategy/preparation claims not resolvable on direct appeal because record is insufficient.
2. Sufficiency of evidence for negligent child abuse under § 28-707(1)(a) (endangerment)	State: evidence that defendant’s threats caused mother to flee with children and left one child alone created a situation endangering children’s physical/mental health.	Mendez-Osorio: no direct threats to children, children did not witness the terrorization, so no endangerment.	Court: Affirmed—circumstantial evidence (children frightened, one left alone, aftermath exposure) supported conviction for negligent child abuse under subsection (a).
3. Whether sentencing included legal errors (postrelease supervision & concurrency)	N/A (issue noticed by Court on plain error)	N/A	Court: Found plain error — postrelease supervision unauthorized because use-of-weapon was Class II felony and §28-105(6) prohibits PRS when Class II imposed with lesser felonies; §28-1205(3) mandates the weapon-use sentence be consecutive, not concurrent. Sentences vacated and remanded for resentencing.

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (establishes deficient-performance and prejudice standard for ineffective-assistance claims)
State v. Loding, 296 Neb. 670 (standards for deciding ineffective-assistance claims on direct appeal)
State v. McCurry, 296 Neb. 40 (postrelease-supervision authority and plain-error sentencing principles)
State v. Crowdell, 234 Neb. 469 (interpretation of "endangers" under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-707(1)(a))
People v. Burton, 143 Cal. App. 4th 447 (use of child-endangerment law to penalize exposing children to domestic violence aftermath)
State v. Filholm, 287 Neb. 763 (requirements for appellate presentation of ineffective-assistance claims to avoid procedural bar)