High Court won’t hear
appeal over ‘malice’
OMAHA (AP) — The state hit
a dead end Tuesday in its efforts to
change a court ruling that has en
titled some convicted killers to walk
free.
Without comment, the U.S. Su
preme Court refused to enter the
fray over the need for the word
“malice” in the second-degree mur
der case of Dennis Ryan.
The Ryan case is one of more
than a dozen second-degree murder
cases that have been ordered to be
retried because of jury instructions
or charges that did not include the
word “malice.” The Nebraska Su
preme Court ruled that “malice”
was needed, even though the Leg
islature removed the word from
« state law in 1979.
At least 15 people have been
released from prison in the last year
in appeals after the ruling. Seven of
them had been sentenced to life in
prison.
Assistant Attorney General J.
Kirk Brown said the U.S. Supreme
Court’s refusal to hear the case
probably ends the state’s appeals on
the issue. He estimated the ruling
affects about 130 second-degree
murder cases tried in the 15 years
between the time the law was
changed and the court first ruled on
the issue in 1994.
To change the situation, Brown
said, the Legislature would have to
reassert its authority in writing laws
or the state Supreme Court would
have to reverse itself.
“The third option is that the vot
ers do not choose to retain one of
the four members of the majority
that supported this decision,”
Brown said.
One of the members of the nar
row state Supreme Court majority
— Supreme Court Judge David
Lanphier — faces a retention vote
Nov. 5. A group has organized to
campaign against his retention,
partly because of the malice ruling.
Brown said he had no official
position on Lanphier’s retention and
noted that he cannot vote because
he does not live in the judge’s dis
trict.
Meanwhile, court hearings al
ready have begun in Ryan’s retrial
on a second-degree murder charge
in the 1985 torture-killing of James
Thimm. Prosecutors said Ryan’s
father, Michael Ryan, was the leader
of a cult that lived on a southeast
Nebraska farm near Rulo where
Thimm was killed. Thimm was a
cult member who had fallen out of
favor.
Prosecutors said he was tortured
by cult members for more than a
month before Dennis Ryan, then 15,
shot him.
The teen stood trial on first-de
gree murder but was convicted of
the lesser charge of second-degree
murder and was sentenced to life in
prison. His father was convicted of
first-degree murder and sentenced
to death.
The Nebraska Supreme Court
ruled 4-3 in February that Dennis
Ryan was denied a fair trial because
jurors were led to believe they could
find him guilty of second-degree
murder without proof that he acted
with malice. For second-degree
murder, the jury was told it must
find that Ryan killed Thimm inten
tionally but without premeditation.
“For over a century, Nebraska,
by statute, defined second-degree
murder as the killing of another per
son purposely and maliciously, but
without deliberation and premedi
tation,” the state court said.
Rally yielded positive results
Nebraska black leaders say Million Man March’s spirit still shines
OMAHA (AP) — Several of
Nebraska’s black community leaders
have seen good cone from the Million
Man March in Washington, D.C., a
year ago.
Organizers said the march was in
tended to mobilize black men and re
store them as heads of their families
and as gatekeepers of their communi
ties.
“Never in the history of this coun
try have black men ever been portrayed
in a positive light,” said Melvin
Muhammad, coordinator of the Nation
of Islam Omaha Study Group.
“And because of that march, all
throughout the country and all around
the world, the myth that black men are
the thugs of society has been removed.”
Wednesday marked the first anni
versary of the Oct. 16 march, which
was organized by Louis Farrakhan,
leader of the Nation of Islam. The event
drew black men from across the United
States.
Muhammad said he has experi
u—
...all throughout the country and all
around the world, the myth that black
men are the thugs of society has been re
moved*
Melvin Muhammad
Nation of Islam Omaha Study Group
enced unity in the past year among
black leaders who recently rallied to
begin the Black United Fund of Ne
braska for the economic empowerment
of black people.
Leon Lewis, a coach for the North
Omaha Bears youth football team, also
has seen black fathers become more
active in their children’s lives. Vernon
Staton, Mad Dads youth director, has
been visited by gang members who
want to put down their guns and con
tribute something positive to their com
munity.
Lewis and Staton also participated
in the Million Man March with
Muhammad and credited the event
with what they have seen in their com
munity. The spirit of the march spread
to Omaha, they said, and some black
people are beginning to reap the ben
efits.
AKsarben overseers back on-track bets
OMAHA (AP) — A group that
oversees racing activities at AKsarben
voted to spend $285,000 to promote
off-track betting and to pay some of
the expenses of a petition drive seek
ing a statewide vote on expanded gam
bling.
Douglas Racing Corp. voted 4-2
Monday to take the money from an
account set up to hold prize money for
live horse racing at the Omaha race
track.
Since April, RaceCo has approved
the use of more than $400,000 out ol
that account for off-track betting and
the casino petition drive.
RaceCo board member Brad
Ashford voted against the latest shifl
of the money. He called Monday’s ap
propriation “demonic.”
“This is public money being spent
on casino gambling without any pub
lic vote,” Ashford, a former state sena
tor, said Tuesday. “It’s undemocratic
... this usurpation of power by a small,
unelected board.”
Board attorney Howard Hahn said
the money belongs to the horsemen, not
the public. He said research indicated
the money was “kind of like” a trust
account in which RaceCo held the
money for the horsemen.
“So all that has happened here is
that the horsemen have asked for some
of their money,” he said.
Ashford said the County Board
should dissolve RaceCo, which he said
has gone beyond its powers in an ef
fort to drive public policy.
RaceCo officials said the purse ac
count was not public money.
The horsemen’s purse is an account
used for paying winning horse owners
during live horse racing. With no live
racing at AKsarben this year, the purse
account is dormant.
A proposal to make off-track bet
ting legal is on the Nov. 5 ballot. A
judge heard arguments Tuesday in Lin
coln on whether an initiative sponsored
by horse-racing interests to allow ca
sinos at or near Nebraska’s racetracks
should be placed on the ballot.
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