Opinion ID: 1966978
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 27

Heading: issues relating to dismissal of felony murder charge

Text: In this section of his motion, characterized by Nesbitt as the most seriously important issue of this postconviction proceeding, Nesbitt alleges that his counsel, the district court, and this court on direct appeal failed to realize that the Specific Directed Verdict of Acquittal  entered at the end of the State's case in chief completely acquitted him of all charges. We disagree. After the State rested, defense counsel moved for an order of dismissal on the ground that the State had failed to prove its prima facie case. The court found that there was insufficient evidence of a sexual assault or an attempted sexual assault on Harmer and thus dismissed the felony murder theory. However, the court specifically held that it was not dismissing the premeditated murder theory. Defense counsel then moved for a mistrial, arguing that in dismissing the felony murder theory, the court was in effect ruling that a substantial majority of the testimony offered by the State is not relevant. Defense counsel also argued that the court was in effect ruling that Harmer was never sexually assaulted, while still allowing the State to allege that the sexual assault of Harmer was a motive for the premeditated killing. The motion for mistrial was overruled. Nesbitt argues that premeditated murder and felony murder are simply alternate means of committing the crime of first degree murder, so that when he was acquitted of felony murder by the district court's dismissal of that charge, he was therefore acquitted of first degree murder altogether. He contends that this acquittal barred the State under double jeopardy principles from proceeding on the premeditation theory. To the extent Nesbitt alleges this argument as ineffective assistance of counsel, it is not procedurally barred. Part of Nesbitt's premise is correct, but his conclusion is ultimately incorrect. We held in State v. White, 254 Neb. 566, 577 N.W.2d 741 (1998), that premeditated murder and felony murder are simply alternate methods of committing first degree murder. To that extent, we agree with Nesbitt. Nevertheless, it is clear that double jeopardy principles did not apply to the premeditation theory in this case. The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects against three distinct abuses: (1) a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal, (2) a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction, and (3) multiple punishments for the same offense. State v. White, supra . We have construed Nebraska's double jeopardy clause as providing the same protections. Id. Nesbitt's argument relates to the first of these three protections. This protection, however, does not apply to Nesbitt in the instant case because there has never been a second prosecution. Nesbitt was tried once on alternative theories of first degree murder, and our case law clearly permits the assertion of alternative theories in one murder prosecution. See State v. Buckman, 237 Neb. 936, 468 N.W.2d 589 (1991) (holding when defendant is charged in alternative with premeditated murder and felony murder, jury need not be unanimous under which theory it convicts). The Double Jeopardy Clause only bars the State from reprosecuting a defendant at a subsequent proceeding under a different theory of criminal liability for the offense of first degree murder. State v. White, supra . Because Nesbitt was charged at one trial under alternative theories, he was put in jeopardy for first degree murder only once. Nesbitt's double jeopardy argument lacks legal merit, and thus his counsel could not have been ineffective for failing to raise it. Nesbitt also relies upon the principle of collateral estoppel embodied in the Double Jeopardy Clause. This principle provides when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit. Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 443, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970). Nesbitt argues that pursuant to the principle of collateral estoppel, the dismissal of the felony murder theory resulted in a resolution in his favor of all of the ultimate facts relating to the sexual assault of Harmer and that the State was therefore precluded from inferring that a sexual assault on Harmer was the motive for premeditated murder. Again, however, Nesbitt's argument lacks legal merit. As the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals found in its review of Nesbitt's habeas corpus action alleging this very issue, the collateral estoppel principle, like the concept of double jeopardy itself, applies only in successive prosecution cases and does not apply to a single trial in which conviction was sought on alternative theories of proving the same offense. Nesbitt v. Hopkins, 86 F.3d 118 (8th Cir.1996). Moreover, even if the principle of collateral estoppel applied to a single trial of multiple counts, the principle would still not apply to the instant case. In a criminal case, a fact previously determined is not an ultimate fact precluded by the collateral estoppel principle unless it was necessarily determined by the fact finder against the government and, in the second prosecution, that `same fact is required to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in order to convict.' Id. at 120, quoting Prince v. Lockhart, 971 F.2d 118 (8th Cir.1992). The district court dismissed the felony murder charge in this case after finding that there was insufficient evidence of a sexual assault upon Harmer for the jury to determine that such assault occurred beyond a reasonable doubt. The State, however, was not required to prove the sexual assault of Harmer beyond a reasonable doubt in order to establish premeditated murder. Although Nesbitt generally argues that the State impermissibly used evidence of a sexual assault on Harmer to infer a motive for her premeditated killing, motive is not an element of first degree murder and does not have to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. See State v. Kirksey, 254 Neb. 162, 575 N.W.2d 377 (1998). The resolution of the felony murder theory therefore did not resolve an ultimate fact in Nesbitt's favor, and the principle of collateral estoppel would not apply to this case. Nesbitt's argument that he was acquitted of premeditated first degree murder is entirely without legal merit, and the district court did not err in denying an evidentiary hearing on this ground. To the extent Nesbitt's other allegations of error in his motion rest on his acquittal/double jeopardy argument, they are similarly without merit.