Murder conviction against
Nebraska man reinstated
The Nebraska Supreme Court
reversed a court of appeals opinion
Friday, reinstating a second-degree
murder conviction against a
Nebraska man.
Daniel L. Owens was found
guilty of second-degree murder, dis
charging a firearm at an occupied
vehicle and use of a weapon to com
mit a felony after a 1997 shooting
left a Springfield teen-ager dead, the
ruling said.
He allegedly fired an automatic
pistol into a jeep carrying four teen
agers returning from getting
“Slushies” in a nearby town, the rul
ing said.
The teen-agers told police
Owens was throwing fireworks out
of his Ford Escort. The driver of the
Jeep said police told him to follow
Owen’s vehicle, which he did for six
to 11 miles, court documents said.
The teen-agers pulled next to
Owen’s car at a stop light at
Interstate 80 and Highway 50,
apparently ending the chase, court
documents said.
Owens then fired three times
into the Jeep, hitting Joel Kudym in
the head and killing him, court doc
uments said.
Owens appealed the convictions.
The appeals were affirmed after an
appeals court ruled Owens was act
ing in self defense, stating that the
“occupants of the Jeep” represented
a group of possible attackers.
The appeals court also ruled the
district court was wrong to not allow
testimony to clear up a prior incon
sistency in witness statements.
The Supreme Court ruled the
appeals court did not properly
instruct the jury on whether the
threatening actions of people justi
fied use of force.
“Merely identifying a group of
possible assailants, such as ‘the
occupants of the Jeep Cherokee,’
and directing the jury to consider
whether anyone in this group threat
ened the defendant, impermissibly
broadens (a state statute defining
when force is allowable in self
defense cases),” Chief Justice John
Hendry wrote in the opinion.
Court orders to suppress
evidence in meth case
The Supreme Court affirmed a
district court’s order Wednesday to
suppress evidence seized by a
Lancaster County Sheriff’s deputy
without a warrant from a Lincoln
man.
Deputy Michael Scofield seized
marijuana and methamphetamine
from Brian Runge after stopping the
man around 2 a.m. July 29, 1998.
The drugs were taken from a
fanny pack Runge was wearing and
Runge was charged with possession
of methamphetamine.
The State’s appeal of the motion
to suppress the drugs during trial
was based on the “plain view doc
trine,” which allows officers to
seize evidence if they are legally in
a position to see the evidence and it
is of an obvious incriminating char
acter.
The district court found that the
baggies containing the drugs were
not of an obvious incriminating
character, the opinion said.
“The question is whether seeing
baggies protruding from a fanny
pack ... was sufficient to warrant a
person of reasonable prudence to
believe that the baggies contained
contraband. I agree with the trial
court that probable cause did not
exist for this warrantless seizure,”
Judge Wesley Mues wrote in the
opinion.
Thirty cars vandalized;
damage estimated at $6,000
Around 30 cars were vandalized
near the intersection of 27th Street
and Tierra Drive Saturday night or
early Sunday morning, Lincoln
Police Capt. David Beggs said.
Beggs said the cars’ tires were
punctured with a knife or screwdriv
er and the paint scratched. Damage
was estimated at $6,000.
Motorcycle accident leaves
man in critical condition
A 21-year-old is in critical con
dition after riding his 1983 Harley -
Davidson motorcycle into a curb on
Superior Street early Sunday morn
ing, Beggs said.
Bill Fischer was traveling east on
Superior when he failed to follow a
curve in the road and hit a curb,
Beggs said.
The motorcycle fell over after
hitting the curb, dumping Fisher and
sliding for about 300 feet, Beggs
said.
The motorcycle’s gas cap came
off as the bike slid along the ground,
causing the bike to catch fire, Beggs
said.
Fischer was not burned but suf
fered serious head trauma in the
accident. Beggs said the man was
wearing a helmet. The 21-year-old’s
right hand was also seriously
injured.
Compiled by senior staff
writer Jake Bleed
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Journalist
White Hoi
By Kimberly Sweet
Senior staff writer
For four decades, United Press
International reporter Helen Thomas
has been famous for questioning -
sometimes even interrogating - presi
dents.
Standing not much taller than 4 feet,
the soft-spoken reporter makes her way
to the White House every day to keep
vigil.
Just as she has done every day since
the Kennedy administration, she enters
the press room in the afternoon and
waits for the president to enter.
Once he enters, Thomas’s soft-spo
ken demeanor and reservation is tossed
out the window. What is left is an
aggressive reporter who wants answers
to the day’s pressing questions.
Talking to reporters before she was
scheduled to address the Nebraska State
Bar Association’s annual meeting on
Friday, Thomas described the feeling of
sitting in the press room before the pres
ident enters.
“It’s always the calm before the
storm,” Thomas said.
For many presidents and press sec
retaries, the storm begins when it is
Thomas’s day to ask the first question -
a privilege that is shared by The
Associated Press and UPI.
Thomas told anecdotes about her
experiences covering the White House
with lawyers who attended the annual
meeting.
Building a bridge to connect the
experiences of lawyers and journalists
was not difficult for Thomas.
“I understand that lawyers are con
cerned about their image,” Thomas
said. “Welcome to the club.”
While Thomas sees herself as the
voice of the people, she said she is often
criticized by those she is trying to get
answers for.
“People watching you on television
recounts
lse career
will see you ask a zinger,” Thomas said.
“They think you are insulting their pres
ident.”
Despite increasing criticism by both
the people and public officials, Thomas
maintained the importance of having a
comprehensive knowledge of public
officials.
With that perspective pervading
society, future public officials should
take heed, Thomas said.
“If you want to go into public ser
vice, you’d better decide at the age of 5
and live accordingly,” Thomas said.
Thomas said it was important to
know the character and personality of
those ruling the country. With the
increased coverage by the news media,
modem presidents are held to a higher
standard than the ones who came before
them.
Thomas said she thought that was
unfortunate.
“I think everyone should have been
held to it,” she said.
Thomas said John F. Kennedy was
her favorite president to cover.
“He was the most inspired,”
Thomas said. “He always had his eyes
on the stars.”
The White House reporter also
thought the extensive coverage by the
media of John F. Kennedy Jr.’s death this
summer was warranted.
“We had known this child since the
day he was bom,” she said. “It wasn’t
just JFK Jr., it was the whole Kennedy
life - one big tragedy.”
Maijorie Whitted, a retired journal
ist, attended Thomas’s speech.
“I think she’s excellent,” she said.
Whitted and Thomas reminisced
before Thomas’ speech about the past
when women journalists were a minori
ty- • .....
“I remember when women always
had to go to the women’s department,”
Whitted said. “That’s where we gos
siped and got the real news,” Thomas
replied.
Social Democrats hold
ground in Germany
BERLIN (AP) - Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder’s Social Democrats
recovered from a string of losses and
held their own in local elections Sunday,
ensuring that the party would retain a
stable minority in Berlin’s local govern
ment.
The ballot also marked a triumph
for incumbent mayor Eberhard
Diepgen, who was certain to be
appointed to a fourth term after a strong
lit n II Iffi
*
vote for the conservative Christian
Democrats.
At a time when Schroeder’s austeri
ty plans have unsettled Germans,
Berliners appeared to opt for the more
reassuring figure.
“We want a modern city, but we
want a city where Berliners feel good
and have a clear future,” Diepgen said as
the results came in.
Nearly complete returns put the
Christian Democrats at 40 percent, a
gain of 3 percentage points over the last
election four years ago.
The Social Democrats were in sec
ond place with just more than 22 per
cent, virtually unchanged from the last
election.
The results of this year’s last major
electoral test were sure to be a relief for
Schroeder, whose popularity has slid
since he introduced a budget that would
cut cherished social programs.
He has insisted that the changes -
including cuts in jobless and welfare
benefits - are needed to bring down the
nation’s debt and secure its economic
health.
The former East German commu
nists gained 3 percentage points and
won almost 18 percent, apparently pick
ing up leftist voters upset by the Social
Democrats’ move toward die political
center, returns showed.
However, eastern Berlin’s Party of
Democratic Socialism made little
impression outside its formerly com
munist home turf, where it won 40 per
cent of the vote. In western Berlin, it got
just 3.5 percent.
The environmentalist Greens,
Schroeder’s junior partner in his year
old federal coalition, lost 3 percentage
points from the last election and won 10
percent