Opinion ID: 4274427
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: Trotter was charged in the January 3, 2015, shooting deaths of Marcel Lovejoy and Dexter Joseph. Lovejoy and Joseph were shot while attending a party at an apartment complex in Omaha, Nebraska. At trial, three eyewitnesses testified that Trotter was the shooter. Trotter’s defense was mistaken identity: He claimed that the witnesses who identified him mistook him for DeAndre Hines. He attempted to introduce into evidence photographs of Hines, which were found on Hines’ cell phone during a consensual search of that phone by law enforcement. The photographs were taken on two different days toward the end of December 2014 and depicted Hines holding a silver and black handgun. Anticipating an objection to these photographs, Trotter’s counsel sought a sidebar prior to the offering of the photographs: [Counsel for Trotter]: Okay. Here is the screenshot. It’s dated December 29th of 2014, which is a couple of days beforehand, and that’s — although you may not be able to tell, that clearly is . . . Hines with a gun that is similar to the one described by the witnesses as silver and black. Show them the next picture. For your information, the next one is taken on — okay. There it is. Similar gun, . . . - 394 - Nebraska Supreme Court A dvance Sheets 299 Nebraska R eports STATE v. TROTTER Cite as 299 Neb. 392 Hines on New Year’s Eve. He doesn’t have — doesn’t have the time on there. It’s 7:56 p.m., it looks like, and once again, I believe that he’s in possession of a gun that is similar to the one described by the witness, silver and black. And so I would — my intention would be to ask him if he got them from — captured them from the phone, and put them into evidence, and I want to do this beforehand, so it’s not — THE COURT: I appreciate that you are playing fair. [The State]: The State would object, first off, on relevance. I don’t know if that is, in fact, a gun or a BB gun. It looks like a real gun. I can’t tell from looking at the photo what caliber of weapon it is. I can’t tell if it’s a 9 millimeter or a .40 caliber or a .22. In terms of — so we have a relevance objection. I would also object on 403 and also on 404, because I think what [Trotter’s counsel] is trying to show is propensity evidence of the fact that this person possessed a gun a week or four days before this crime so that he must have been the person possessing the gun on the day of. THE COURT: All right. My — my recollection — I don’t recall a witness saying anything about the gun was black and silver, maybe there was someone that said silver, but I only recall black — a description as black, but regardless of that, I would agree that the relevance is overweighed by the potential prejudice, and I would not allow you to put those in. [Counsel for Trotter]: May I just respond briefly? This is not 404 evidence. This is evidence that he had possession of the weapon or a similar weapon on the day of, so I wasn’t trying to show any propensity there. I understand the Court’s ruling. It was more in line with 403 and relevance. THE COURT: That’s right. And the other problem that I have with that, there is clear gang signs in the second - 395 - Nebraska Supreme Court A dvance Sheets 299 Nebraska R eports STATE v. TROTTER Cite as 299 Neb. 392 photo, so I wouldn’t let it in because of the motion in limine. I don’t remember the first one. Go back to the first one. [Counsel for Trotter]: There is none on that one. THE COURT: Yeah, and, again, that appears to be a silver weapon when the only witness description I have is black, and, again, I think the small amount of relevance is overweighed by the — by 403 on this. [Counsel for Trotter]: I will — I do have pictures that I will ask to be marked during a break. I can make an offer of proof that way. Okay? THE COURT: Absolutely. We will reserve the oppor- tunity to make an offer of proof until the next break, which will probably be over the noon hour. [Counsel for Trotter]: Okay. THE COURT: All right. [Counsel for Trotter]: Okay. Thanks. ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR Trotter assigns that the district court erred in (1) not admitting exhibits 292 and 293, which were photographs of an individual Trotter argued was the actual perpetrator, wearing clothes matching the description of the shooter and holding a gun, and (2) sentencing him to a functional life sentence, in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.