Opinion ID: 1711609
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: pending criminal charges

Text: McBride next alleges the district court erred in allowing the use of evidence that he had been charged with other criminal offenses. At trial, Officer Eley was the first witness called by the prosecution. Eley testified that on February 14, 1994, he took a report from Oster, and as a result, McBride became a criminal suspect. Eley further testified that he conducted an investigation and completed a report which he submitted to the county attorney. The county attorney then asked the court to take judicial notice of the prior pending charges. Defense counsel called a sidebar conference, at which time he objected to the court taking judicial notice of the pending charges against McBride on the grounds that the charges were cumulative, that they were not relevant, and that their probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. The court overruled the objections and took judicial notice of the following statement read by the county attorney in the presence of the jury: That filed with the Adams County District Court is a case entitled State of Nebraska versus Thomas Allan McBride, Case Number 94121; that within that case, the defendant herein, Thomas Allan McBride, is charged with assault in the second degree, use of a weapon to commit a felony, first degree sexual assault; that inwith regard to those charges, the alleged victim is Sharon Oster, and the events allegedly took place on February 6th, 1994; further, that said case against Thomas Allan McBride was pending on the day of Sharon Oster's death on February 5th, 1995.