Opinion ID: 1751731
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Niemann Testimony

Text: After being contacted by a fellow inmate on Niemann's behalf, a group of private investigators hired by the convict's family met with Niemann at the Omaha Correctional Center. As a result, Niemann both signed an affidavit and made a sworn oral statement which was reported by a member of a firm of reporters. In the affidavit Niemann recites, in part: The testimony I gave [at trial] was not a true and accurate depiction of my knowledge of the incidents.... The product of my testimony was a direct result of the use of threats, intimidation, and coercion I was subjected to by the present Scottsbluff [sic] County Attorney, Brian Silverman. Mr. Silverman stated that if I did not testify the way that he wanted me to I would be charged with two counts of murder. Furthermore, Mr. Silverman gave me several typed pages detailing the information he wanted me to testify to. Mr. Silverman told me to read and memorize these pages and get it right. The affidavit further declares that Niemann obtained the specific details in his testimony regarding the murders from typed information Brian Silverman told him to testify to; from Silverman's coaching of testimony on not less than eight occasions; from information his attorney told him about statements his former roommate, Kenard Wasmer, was making; and from newspaper articles. According to the affidavit, the true facts, which directly contradict his trial testimony, are the following: I was never in the house rented by Richard Valdez. I never saw Jeff Boppre shoot Richard Valdez or Sharon Condon. I never saw Richard Valdez laying on the floor or move while on the floor after being shot. I never saw Jeff Boppre break out a light bulb in the Valdez house. I never removed any items from the Valdez house. I have never been in possession or have any knowledge of scales Richard Valdez owned or had at his residence. I never saw Jeff Boppre throw away a gun either going to or coming back from Phoeniz [sic], Arizona. The camera used at trial was my camera that I had owned a long time prior to the murders. Jeff at no time stated to me, You should have heard that bitch beg for her life. These clear and concise affidavit declarations stand in stark contrast to Niemann's oral statement, which is almost entirely devoid of questioning regarding coerced and coached testimony or the specific denials of his trial testimony. For the most part, Niemann is unable in his statement to clearly recall or state what he actually did or saw on the night of the murders. He believes that the convict made three or four trips to the residence of Richard Valdez for the purpose of purchasing cocaine, the last two trips being made after midnight, when one of their acquaintances went home for the evening. After the convict, Wasmer, and Niemann finished using the cocaine, which was probably around 1 a.m., the convict left to go home to bed. Sometime later, possibly after 15 to 45 minutes, the convict returned, asking whether Niemann and Wasmer wanted to go to Phoenix. The three had previously discussed going there, but had no definite plan to do so. Shortly after the convict returned, the three left for Arizona without packing anything for the trip. Niemann denied that he or the convict brought an army coat full of items stolen from Valdez into the trailer. Niemann also denied that he and the convict walked to a cliff west of Gallup, New Mexico, and threw a gun away, saying, rather, We walked down to the cliff and took a leak. The State produced three affidavits in rebuttal of Niemann's recantation of his trial testimony. The first was from James Snyder, an investigator with the Nebraska State Patrol. Snyder interviewed Niemann on two different occasions after the convict's investigators had done so, and on both occasions Niemann told Snyder that his sworn testimony at trial was the truth. Niemann also stated that he recanted his trial testimony to the convict's investigators so that they would quit bothering him. Before considering the second affidavit, which was made by Robert Kinsey, a detective lieutenant of the Scottsbluff Police Department, we point out that the trial record demonstrates that when Kinsey first met with Niemann at the Scottsbluff office of the State Patrol, Niemann claimed that the convict had left Niemann's home at 1 o'clock on the morning of the murders to go to the convict's own house in order to change clothes and stop at the bank to get cash. The convict returned a short time later, and they left for Phoenix at that time. Niemann also told Kinsey that the convict and Wasmer were wearing the same clothes at the time of the convict's arrest as when they left for Phoenix. Niemann also said that the convict traded the gun, which later proved to be the murder weapon, to Valdez for cocaine about a week before the murders. At that point in the interview, Kinsey gave Niemann the Miranda warnings even though Niemann was not then under arrest, according to Kinsey's new trial affidavit. Niemann then elected to have an attorney present; the interview was terminated, and Niemann was allowed to leave the State Patrol office. Later that evening, Niemann was arrested at his home when a search and arrest warrant was executed. Niemann was then interviewed a couple of days later in the presence of his attorney, Charles Fitzke. According to the trial record, after his arrest and until trial, Niemann was not allowed to speak to Wasmer about the case. The third affidavit is that of Fitzke, the then public defender for Scotts Bluff County. By the time he was appointed to represent Niemann, Niemann was being held in the Scotts Bluff County jail and had been charged with Class II felony robbery. The two discussed the circumstances of Niemann's involvement. After those discussions, Fitzke informed the prosecution that Niemann was willing to cooperate and testify truthfully regarding his involvement if the State would reduce his charges to a Class III felony. To Fitzke's knowledge, the prosecution had no information as to what Niemann would say or would be able to testify to until he was first interviewed in Fitzke's presence. Niemann's statement at that time was consistent with the one he had previously given to Fitzke, and at no time did the prosecuting attorney, his deputies, or the investigator coerce or intimidate Niemann or supply him with any information.