Opinion ID: 2116540
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 23

Heading: 8. Violation of Confidentiality Order

Text: During sentencing, Lotter filed a motion to disqualify the special prosecutor for intentionally violating a court order. The State had filed a motion for release of records to obtain information, concerning Lotter, from various sources. After a hearing was held on the motion, but 3 weeks prior to the sentencing panel's ruling thereon, the special prosecutor obtained Lotter's records from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Subsequently, however, the sentencing panel's order denied the prosecution access to those same records. Lotter moved to disqualify the special prosecutor from further proceedings. The panel denied the motion to disqualify but did preclude the prosecution from introducing certain information obtained from the excluded records at sentencing. Although the prosecutor obviously violated a court order in this instance, the sentencing panel concluded that the violations had no effect on its sentencing decision, since the panel prohibited the prosecution from using any of the material it had obtained in violation of the court order. We see no prejudice to Lotter stemming from this instance of misconduct.