Opinion ID: 2116540
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 55

Heading: 5.4. Mitigating Circumstance (2)(b)

Text: Lotter asserts that the sentencing panel should have found the existence of statutory mitigating circumstance (2)(b), which exists when [t]he offender acted under unusual pressures or influences or under the domination of another person. In State v. Holtan, 197 Neb. 544, 547, 250 N.W.2d 876, 880 (1977), we stated that this provision contemplates only outside pressures, not those created by the defendant's own acts. The only pressure in this case was that created by the impending criminal charges against Lotter due to his involvement in the sexual assault of Brandon, that is, pressure created by Lotter's own acts. This assignment of error is without merit.