Opinion ID: 1718807
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: second search

Text: Silvers also complains of a search conducted between 4:20 and 5:05 p.m. on May 3, 1986. During this search, fire and law enforcement personnel seized 18 additional pieces of evidence. The district court found that Silvers had acknowledged that the search was conducted upon a consent to search given by Silvers and his wife. Silvers' motion for postconviction relief alleged that the consent was coerced by the actions of Det. Jeff Hupp of the Kearney Police Department. During this search, the following items were seized: waterbed heater, two curling irons (victim's bedroom), two bed sheets and afghans (victim's waterbed), blood smear and tissue (victim's bedroom on west wall), claw hammer (garage), ball peen hammer (garage), two 1-gallon red gas cans (garage), liquid in the gas cans, 1-quart container of charcoal starting fluid and a sample of the contents therein (garage), a sample of liquid found in a pan on the floor in which brushes were soaking (garage), yellow flashlight (kitchen counter next to entrance to garage), two empty milk cartons (kitchen drainer next to sink), and two pink shoes (victim's bedroom at foot of waterbed). The district court found that nothing in the evidence offered by Silvers, not even his own testimony, revealed any indication that Silvers or his wife had been coerced into giving consent for law enforcement to conduct the search between 4:20 and 5:05 p.m. The district court found that without some evidence of a legitimate Fourth Amendment complaint, the court could not find fault with Silvers' trial counsel for not raising, pursuing, or advising Silvers of a meritless legal claim. We review the findings of the district court for clear error. See State v. Soukharith, 260 Neb. 478, 618 N.W.2d 409 (2000). The record does not support Silvers' claim that he and his wife were coerced into this search. It was not disputed by Silvers that he had consented to the search, and reports offered in evidence noted that a consent to search had been signed by both Silvers and his wife. The only evidence to which Silvers referred was that his wife declined to give consent to search the home while she was being questioned. That evidence does not establish that Silvers was coerced into giving consent to the search. Since nothing in the record demonstrated that the consent to this search was coerced, Silvers has not established that his trial counsel was ineffective. Thus, we conclude that the district court's findings as to this search are not clearly wrong.