State v. Rezac, 318 Neb. 352

Rezac was involved in a fatal shooting following a vehicle collision in Lincoln, Nebraska, in December 2022 and was charged with second degree murder.
Rezac waived his Miranda rights and admitted to firing at the other vehicle, killing the driver, Kupo Mleya.
Rezac entered a no contest plea to second degree murder in exchange for dismissal of additional charges.
Sentencing was scheduled after preparation of a presentence report; Rezac sought a continuance to allow submission of mental health records.
The trial court denied the continuance, proceeded to sentencing, and imposed a 60-years-to-life sentence.
On appeal, Rezac challenged the denial of the continuance, the sentence as excessive, and raised multiple ineffective assistance of counsel claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Denial of motion to continue sentencing	Needed more time to provide mental health records for mitigating purposes	Records were available; prejudice not shown	No abuse of discretion; Rezac controlled provision of records, no prejudice shown
Excessive sentence	Court failed to consider mitigating factors (age, mental health, plea)	All factors were considered, sentence within statutory limits	Sentence affirmed; court considered relevant factors, decision not unreasonable
Failure to move to suppress confession	Statement was involuntary due to intoxication	Rezac was coherent, could reason and comprehend	No deficiency; intoxication did not render confession involuntary
Ineffective assistance regarding advice on plea	Not fully explained penalties, or difference with lesser charges/self-defense	No deficient performance or record inadequate to review	No merit on some claims; record insufficient for claims on manslaughter & records

State v. Turner, 315 Neb. 661 (discretion standard on continuances in criminal cases)
State v. Barnes, 317 Neb. 517 (appellate review of sentencing discretion)
State v. Blaha, 303 Neb. 415 (counsel's advice and record refuting ineffective assistance on sentencing consequences)
State v. Williams, 269 Neb. 917 (intoxication not conclusive on voluntariness of confession)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance of counsel standard)