State v. Sanders, 289 Neb. 335

Ricky J. Sanders was convicted of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-1212.04) and related firearm felony; bullets and a spent casing were recovered from his vehicle after police stopped and searched it.
Officers followed Sanders’ car after 911 reports of shots fired from a vehicle matching its description; the car briefly committed a traffic violation before being stopped and blocked by police backup.
Officers observed loose ammunition in plain view inside the vehicle, then searched and recovered over 30 bullets and a spent casing; Sanders and his passenger were taken into custody.
Sanders filed a pro se postconviction motion asserting layered ineffective-assistance claims: (1) counsel failed to challenge § 28-1212.04 as an unconstitutional special/local law and equal protection violation, and (2) counsel failed to move to suppress evidence from the stop/search (alleging an illegal stop and an improper search incident to arrest).
The district court denied postconviction relief without an evidentiary hearing; on appeal the Nebraska Supreme Court reviewed de novo and considered only the two claims Sanders pressed on appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge § 28-1212.04 as a local/special law and equal protection violation	Sanders: counsel should have raised a facial and as-applied constitutional challenge to § 28-1212.04 (Neb. Const. art. III, § 18; targeted areas with high African-American populations)	State: counsel’s failure to raise such a challenge was not deficient because the challenge would have been a novel constitutional argument at the time	Held: Counsel not deficient for failing to raise a novel constitutional claim; no evidentiary hearing required
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to move to suppress evidence from the vehicle stop/search based on an illegal stop	Sanders: stop was improperly based on anonymous 911 tips; suppression warranted	State: record shows an intervening traffic violation provided probable cause for the stop; plain view observation of ammunition made the search reasonable under search-incident-to-arrest doctrine	Held: Record refutes illegal-stop claim (traffic violation justified stop); plain-view/ammunition and arrest justified search under Arizona v. Gant; no evidentiary hearing required

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (establishes deficient-performance and prejudice test for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107 (Constitution guarantees a competent attorney but not the raising of every conceivable claim)
Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332 (limits vehicle searches incident to arrest to situations where arrestee is within reaching distance or vehicle likely contains evidence of the offense)
Florida v. J. L., 529 U.S. 266 (anonymous tip lacking indicia of reliability cannot by itself justify an investigative stop)
Anderson v. United States, 393 F.3d 749 (8th Cir.) (counsel’s failure to raise a wholly novel constitutional claim does not necessarily constitute ineffective assistance)
State v. Dragon, 287 Neb. 519 (Neb. 2014) (postconviction review standards)
State v. Nolan, 283 Neb. 50 (traffic violations supply probable cause for stops)
State v. Draganescu, 276 Neb. 448 (stop objectively reasonable when officer has probable cause for traffic violation)