Joubert has two days to
respond to state’s motion
By Mike Kluck
Staff Writer
As convicted child killer John
Joubert’s girlfriend Theresa O’Brien
left the Nebraska State Penitentiary
for a lunch break on Friday a smile
crossed her face.
“He made his
birthday, O Brien
said. Joubert
turned 33 on Tues
day.
Joubert was
scheduled to be ex
ecuted in the elec
tric chair Friday for
the 1983 murders
of two Sarny
County boys, but
Joubert the U.S. Supreme
Court granted him a stay of execution
late Thursday.
The stay sparked outrage in many
Nebraska communities and allowed
the friends of Joubert to breath easier.
Gov. Ben Nelson called a press
conference to condemn the U.S. Su
preme Court for creating “judicial
chaos” and drawing out the families’
pain and the state’s frustration.
Attorney General Don Stenberg,
in an earlier press conference, said
Joubert was running out of appeals.
Joubert’s stay of execution did not
last long.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected
Joubert’s two appeals Monday with
out comment.
Around 9:30 a.m. Monday, the
Nebraska State Attorney General’s
office learned of the lifting of the stay
of execution.
Assistant Attorney General J. Kirk
Brown, the office’s point man on capi
tal punishment cases, immediately
began preparing to ask the Nebraska
Supreme Court to set a new execution
date.
Before filing a motion to the state
Supreme Court, Brown had to receive
letters from the federal district and
appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme
Court stating they have issued no stays
of execution for Joubert.
With the use of the fax machine,
Brown had received the letters late
Monday. Around 4 p.m. he filed a
motion with the Nebraska Supreme
Court asking for a new execution date
to be set.
“I would like to see the law en
forced,” Brown said. “It’s frustrating
if the law is a legitimate law, and the
sanction is a legitimate sanction and
the defendant is guilty. It’s frustrating
to have a system take this long to
enforce it.
“With this type of penalty, there’s
a lot to be careful of, but you can be
careful and get this done a lot sooner
then we’ve gotten it done in Joubert’s
case,” Brown said.
Tuesday afternoon the Nebraska
Supreme Court gave Joubert until 5:00
p.m. Friday, July 5, to make a re
sponse to the Attorney General’s mo
tion. After a response is received or
the deadline passes, the court will
then take up the case.
Laurie Camp, Nebraska Deputy
Attorney General for Criminal Mat
ters, said she was encouraged by the
Nebraska Supreme Court’s decision.
Usually the State Supreme Court
gives a defendant 10 days to respond
Tanna Kinnaman/DN
Theresa O’Brien, John Joubert’s girlfriend, tells the media about her relief over Joubert’s stay of
execution Friday. _L _
to a motion, she said, but in Joubert’s
case he was only given three days.
A new execution could be set by
the end of July, Brown said, depend
ing on how quickly the Supreme Court
makes its ruling in the case and the
date it selects.
Brown said he predicts Joubert will
continue to make appeals until he is
executed.
“On the other hand, he burned a lot
of bridges last week,” Brown said.
“He had a lot of issues to which he has
now been told 'no’ by a lot of courts.
“He burned a lot of
bridges last week. ”
J. KIRK BROWN
Assistant Attorney General
Every time we go through a fury like
that, the number of legitimate com
plaints he can raise gets smaller and
smaller.”
On Monday, Nelson said he hoped
the Nebraska Supreme Court would
ai/lVlUlVMy lUiUlUl^UUJUUUWU
so finality could be brought to the
case.
Nelson said he was frustrated with
the Supreme Court’s stay of execu
tion last Thursday and still had mixed
feelings when he heard of the Su
preme Court’s decision on Monday.
“I was very critical of the U.S.
Supreme Court last Friday for not
Finishing the job,” Nelson said. “It
could have been done on Friday and
the order of the court could have been
carried out Friday afternoon.”
Gabel
Continued from Page 6
events that had gone wrong.
“Sam spares the older boy from
• relinquishing ownership of Kitty,”
Gabel wrote.
But what disturbed Nesetti more
was when Gabel wrote, “.. although
drug free, will get whistled at by a
huge Native American in the summer
of 1977 and will not wear shorts openly
in public (until spring 1985).”
“It sounds like Gabel was either
sodomized or sexually assaulted,”
Nesetti said. “It was very traumatic
for him. It sounds like there’s a lot of
shame and he is rewriting his life
because he is so ashamed.”
By the end of the story, Sam Beckett
l -
“It's probably his first
recollection of a psy
chotic experience. ”
MATTHEW NES8ETTI
psychologist
stopped a woman from marrying, a
couple from committing their older son
to two hospitals, spared a boy from
wearing shorts, and kept his education
interests alive so he would not be on
welfare at age 19 and beyond.
“Sam made a land lord out of a man
who lives off his tenants that pay their
rent.”
Gabel’s next court date is July 8 at
9 a.m. in Lancaster County Court.
Paralympics
Continued from Page 3
Hagel explained the U.S. did not
send a full basketball team in the early
years of competition.
“Then they saw how many of us
enjoyed the sport, and we started to
prove we were a worthwhile interna
tional contender,” Hagel said.
Wheelchair basketball is open for
athletes with permanent severe leg dis
ability or lower-body paralysis.
Hagel, who suffered a spinal cord injury
in a 1968 car accident, is one of nine
team members with spinal cord injuries.
“Playing for this team is special,”
Hagel said. “It has helped me develop
as an athlete and helped with my sell
confidence. I enjoy the competition
and the sportsmanship of it. It has
meant a lot to me to be able to do this.
Former paralympic teammate Deb
Sunderman took over head coaching
responsibilities in 1995. Sunderman,
who played two years of college ball
at Mankato State, had hip-replace
ment surgery after a joint started dete
riorating, which made her eligible to
play wheelchair basketball.
After competing in the 1992
Paralympics, Sunderman turned her
attention toward coaching. She be
came the first female head coach in
1995 after being an assistant coach for
a year.
Sunderman and her squad have
returned to their respective homes but
will gather in Cola-ado Springs, Colo.,
for their final camp in late July. After
arriving in Atlanta for the games these
athletes have one more stop they hope
to make—the gold-medal stand.
Crossword
Edited by Eugene T. Maleska No. 0604 1
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fennel once presided
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hangouts 40 Fastener
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f0rm 43 T ownsend or
22 Following Marshall
23 Spartan serfs 45 rut
25 Avaricious Certain vote
26 Adhibit ' 47 Chosen pursuit
28 Cajun’s *0 Lodge
approval 52 Warn
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE
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Me,” 1933 song
54 Blue-footed
petrel of N.Z.
57 Steatite
59 Dixon’s partner
60 Within: Comb,
form
61 State
62 Chose
63 Bench
64 Former
Ottoman
officials
65 Cluttered
DOWN
1 Ty or Irvin S.
2 Farm unit
3 Drives back
empty
4 Breed
s Finalize
6 Rote
7Teraphim
8 A Hammer
9 Summer in
Savoie
10 Distinctive
11 Heated
12 Spiked
13 Untrusting
19-avis
21 Cook specialty
24 Anathema, to
Polonius
25 Petrol
28 Beehive State
27 Evening, in
Ancona
29 Some retirees
31 Philadelphian
thick soup
32 Peter-,
■ N.H.L. goalie
34 Dreamers
39 Calhoun of films
or boxing
36 Gaelic
39 Coup d’
41 Nabokov book
42 Sch. or coll.
44 Rents
47 Instances 53 Symbol of
48 Like an gentleness
anchorite 55 On one’s
49 Lasso (alert)
so Queen’s bread *• 500 (race)
spread 58 Bit
51 A day’s march 59 P. Wylie subject
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