State v. Wofford, 298 Neb. 412

Background

On July 30, 2015, occupants of a Saturn fired shots into an Oldsmobile; one occupant of the Oldsmobile was injured. Police located the Saturn and three men fled. Lafferrell Matthews (owner/driver) later admitted he was driving and identified Nico M. Wofford and Dominique Hairston as passengers.
Wofford and Hairston were charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm and use of a weapon to commit a felony; the State moved to consolidate their prosecutions and the district court granted the motion over Wofford’s objection.
During voir dire the prosecutor used a peremptory strike against the only African‑American prospective juror; Wofford (and Hairston) raised a Batson challenge which the trial court denied after accepting the prosecutor’s race‑neutral explanation (concern about the juror’s stated religious inability to judge an individual).
The State presented Matthews’ testimony, police testimony, shell‑casing evidence showing shots from two guns, and a surveillance video of the shooting; the video was admitted and played at trial.
The jury requested to rewatch the surveillance video during deliberations; the court provided a laptop with the video. After verdict, jurors reportedly viewed a mirrored (reverse) version of the video. Wofford moved for a new trial alleging irregularity/misconduct; the court denied the motion.
Wofford was convicted on both counts and sentenced to consecutive terms of 20–30 years for each conviction. He appealed, raising consolidation, Batson, jury access to the video, sufficiency of the evidence, and excessiveness of sentence.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Consolidation of trials	Wofford: consolidation prejudiced him (guilt by association, inconsistent defenses, Matthews’ testimony)	State: offenses were factually related; evidence admissible against either defendant; proper consolidation	Court: no abuse of discretion; consolidation proper and no prejudice shown
Batson challenge to peremptory strike	Wofford: strike of sole African‑American juror raised prima facie case of racial discrimination	State: struck juror for race‑neutral reason — juror’s statements about religious inability to judge an individual	Court: prosecutor’s reason was facially race‑neutral and trial court did not clearly err in finding no purposeful discrimination
Jury allowed unsupervised access to surveillance video during deliberations	Wofford: providing laptop and jurors viewing mirrored video constituted irregularity and misconduct	State: video was nontestimonial substantive evidence; court has broad discretion to provide exhibits for deliberations	Court: no abuse of discretion in furnishing video for deliberations; reviewing nontestimonial exhibits is permitted
Sufficiency of the evidence & motions to dismiss	Wofford: testimony lacked physical corroboration; Matthews and Hairston were unreliable; no forensic link to Wofford	State: testimonial and physical evidence (video, shell casings, Matthews’ ID) permitted conviction if jury believed witnesses	Court: evidence sufficient when viewed in light most favorable to prosecution; jury could credit Matthews and convict
Sentence excessive	Wofford: court failed to give adequate weight to mitigating factors (no prior felonies, employment, family ties)	State: court considered factors and defendant scored high risk to reoffend; sentences within statutory range	Court: no abuse of discretion; sentences (20–30 yrs consecutive) appropriate and within statutory limits

Key Cases Cited

State v. Stricklin, 290 Neb. 542 (2015) (standards on consolidation and prejudice in joinder of prosecutions)
Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) (peremptory strikes based solely on race violate Equal Protection)
State v. Clifton, 296 Neb. 135 (2017) (Batson framework and appellate review of race‑neutral explanations)
State v. Vandever, 287 Neb. 807 (2014) (trial court discretion to allow jury to rehear or review nontestimonial evidence)
State v. Mendez‑Osorio, 297 Neb. 520 (2017) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)