Opinion ID: 2117175
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Location of Crime

Text: Phelps also urges that in any event, the evidence fails to establish that the crime occurred in Madison County, where it was prosecuted. This claim rests on the fact that a variety of people thought they had seen the child at a multiplicity of places. For example, according to two witnesses, a girl resembling the child was seen at approximately 6:30 on the morning of her disappearance walking down a Norfolk street. Another witness saw a girl matching the child's description at approximately 6:30 to 6:45 a.m. of the same day sitting on the steps of the babysitter's residence. When this witness passed the babysitter's residence on her return trip some 5 minutes later, she did not see the girl. A girl resembling the child was also seen near the McNeely Apartments between approximately 6:30 and 6:45 a.m. of that day by another witness. Still another witness thought she saw the child and another young girl in the store at which the witness worked around 10 a.m. on the day of the child's disappearance. A young witness testified that she spoke with a girl resembling the child on the afternoon of that day at the same store. A man from Valley, Nebraska, believed he saw a girl resembling the child leaving a Fremont hotel with an older man on August 14, 1987. A woman from Ames, Nebraska, testified that shortly after the child's disappearance, she saw a girl resembling the child in a van traveling south out of West Point, Nebraska. A woman from Norfolk testified that the child was with another girl at a truckstop 5 miles north of Norfolk at 1 to 1:30 a.m. on August 14, 1987. A woman living approximately a block away from the McNeely Apartments testified that the child and another girl cut across her lawn between 12 and 1 p.m. on August 13, 1987. Yet another woman testified that she saw a girl resembling the child in a shopping mall in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday, August 15. There is no question that in the absence of a defendant's waiver, the State has the burden to prove proper venue beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Gorman, 232 Neb. 738, 441 N.W.2d 896 (1989); State v. Vejvoda, 231 Neb. 668, 438 N.W.2d 461 (1989); State v. Lindsey, 193 Neb. 442, 227 N.W.2d 599 (1975).  `The venue of an offense may be proven like any other fact in a criminal case. It need not be established by positive testimony, nor in the words of the information; but if from the facts appearing in evidence the only rational conclusion which can be drawn is that the offense was committed in the county alleged, it is sufficient.'  State v. Gorman, 232 Neb. at 740, 441 N.W.2d at 898, quoting State v. Vejvoda, supra . Accord Weinecke v. State, 34 Neb. 14, 51 N.W. 307 (1892). Generally, all criminal cases are to be tried in the county where the offense was committed. Neb.Rev.Stat. § 29-1301 (Reissue 1989). However, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 29-1301.01 (Reissue 1989) provides that if an offense is committed against the person of another, the accused may be tried in the county in which the offense is committed, or in any county into or out of which the victim may have been brought in the prosecution of the offense, or in which an act is done by the accused in instigating, procuring, promoting, or aiding in the commission of the offense, or in aiding, abetting, or procuring another to commit such offense. Accord, State v. Tiff, 199 Neb. 519, 260 N.W.2d 296 (1977); State v. Garza, 191 Neb. 118, 214 N.W.2d 30 (1974). An example of the proof needed to prove venue is found in State v. Ellis, 208 Neb. 379, 303 N.W.2d 741 (1981). The defendant therein was convicted of manslaughter in Lancaster County. The evidence showed that the victim was last seen on October 3, 1974, in that county; however, her remains were discovered on September 13, 1978, in Cass County. Although there was no direct evidence that the defendant had transported the victim from the first to the second county, the circumstantial evidence of defendant's prior conduct and acquaintance with the victim was held sufficient to establish that the crime took place in Lancaster County. Notwithstanding that the child's clothing was found in Stanton County and that Phelps contends his getting out of the vehicle, holding the child's arms, becoming aroused, being frightened, and departing all occurred in Stanton County, the facts remain that the child and her father and stepmother lived in Madison County, as did the child's babysitter, where the child was to be on August 13, 1987, and that the child did not have the ability to transport herself out of Madison County. Accordingly, there is sufficient circumstantial evidence from which a fact finder could reasonably conclude that the child was originally abducted in Madison County, and the district court thus correctly submitted the issue of venue to the jury.