Lyrical Year
4 Artists and poets come together in
the 2000 Nebraska Poets Calendar.
A&E,PAGE 11
[I Punishing attack
LdT I I Nebraska pounds Tennessee in die I
2000 Fiesta Bowl.
SPORTS, PAGE 24
Monday, January 10,2000 dailyneb.com Vol 99, Issue 77
Reeves’ sentence dropped
By Michelle Starr
Staff writer
The Nebraska Supreme
Court nullified convicted mur
derer Randy Reeves’ death sen
tence Friday as it corrected
itself.
The court said Friday morn
ing Reeves’ 1991 death sentence
was invalid, and he would be
resentenced, opening a fresh
round of appeals 19 years after
the crime.
“We’re basically back at
square one,” Assistant Attorney
General Kirk Brown said at a
press conference Friday after
noon.
Reeves was convicted of
first-degree murder and sen
tenced to death for the 1980
stabbing deaths of Janet Mesner,
30, and Victoria Lamm, 28, at
the Quaker meeting house in
Lincoln.
The Nebraska Supreme
Court ruled that it made an error
during the appeals process in
which it upheld his death sen
tence.
On Friday the court said: “It
would do more harm than good
to adhere to this court’s clearly
erroneous decision...”
In the 1991 review of
Reeves’ case, the Nebraska
Supreme Court resehtenced
Reeves to death instead of send
ing the case back to district
court, thereby eliminating a step
in the appeal&process. \ •
In Friday’s opinion the coiat
said it had “acted as an unre
viewable sentencing panel {in
1991).”
Under Nebraska law, a trial
court death sentence is automat
ically sent to the State Supreme
Court for review.
Paula Hutchinson, Reeves’
attorney, said Reeves was stoic
as always after hearing the deci
sion.
She said in a press confer
ence on Friday that Reeves knew
nothing could bring back the
two women, but the death penal
ty would have created more
pain.
Gus Lamm, Victoria’s wid
ower, said he agreed.
“There’s been enough sad
ness, enough misery, enough
kitting,” Lamm said.
Reeves was convicted by a
Lancaster County District Court
jury in April 1981 and sentenced
to death by a three-judge panel
. .. V /' . "
that same year.
Singe his initial sentence,
Reeves’ case traveled up and
down the court system, includ
ing two trips to the U.S.
Supreme Court and two to the
8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Throughout the appeals con- .
flicts between state and federal
rulings were a problem,
Hutchinson said.
The conflicting rulings
include a 1991 decision by the
Nebraska Supreme Court to
resentence Reeves to death after
the U.S. Supreme Court had
vacated his death sentence a
year earlier.
“No one has said he got a
fair shake in his original sen
tencing,” Hutchinson said.
Please see REEVES on 9
■> Josh Wolfe/DN
HABAKKUK SCOLLAND, 12, and Ms brother, Joshih, 7, swing Saturday at Upco Park in north Lincoln. Saturday’s temperatures
reached 51 degrees.
Fetal research focus of debate
■' . ;•
By Kimberly Sweet
Staff writer
A University of Nebraska regent
js prepared to take on anti-abortion
leaders in a debate over the use of
aborted fetal tissue for research at the
university’s medical center.
Anti-abortion leaders received an
early Christmas present in the form
of a letter from regent Drew Miller,
last month, challenging them to prove
that ending research at the University
of Nebraska Medical Center is not in
die best interest of Nebraskans.
In his Dec. 23 letter, Miller chal
lenged Nebraska Right to Life leader
Julie Schmit-Albin, Metro Right to
Life leader Bob Blank and Rescue
the Heartland leader Larry Donlan to
a debate in front of “a panel of lead
ing Nebraska citizens.”
Miller said if the citizens who
watch the debate vote to stop it,
Miller would withdraw from running
for re-election to the board.
His term expires in January 2001.
All three wrote to Miller just
before the new year to accept his
challenge.
KKAR Radio and KCRO Radio
have both offered time to air a debate,
Schmit-Albin said. KFAB has also
expressed interest in hosting the dis
cussion, she said.
All are AM stations with a talk
and news format. KCRO radio has a
Christian ministry format.
While she accepted the offer to
debate the issues, Schmit-Albin said
she and the others were against hav
ing a panel of “leading citizens” vote
whether the research should contin
ue. The Right to Life executive direc
tor said the panel would promote an
attitude that “regular” Nebraskans
are too ignorant to have a say in the
matter.
“Having a panel of leading
Nebraska citizens is bogus” Schmit
Albinsaid.
In a letter responding to Miller’s
challenge, Blank said he wants to
debate the issue of whether abortion
ist Leroy Carhart should continue to
be on the faculty ofUNMC, as well
as whether fetal tissue should be
Please see FETAL on 10
-- ■ — ■ .. ■ ■" 1 I—
-ELECTION 2000
Democrats
face off in
Iowa debate
By Brian Carlson
Staff writer
JOHNSTON, Iowa - In the Hawkeye State’s first 2000
Democratic presidential debate Saturday, A1 Gore came out
swinging at rival Bill Bradley, placing him on the defensive
for much of the debate but failing to disrupt Bradley’s calm
demeanor.
An aggressive Gore continued to criticize aspects of
Bradley’s voting
record and cam
paign proposals
on issues such as
agriculture and
healthcare.
Bradley
questioned
Gore’s leader
ship ability, but
by and large
appeared reluc
" taut to tussle
with the vice
p^pVnt
Qott^ and
Bradley, a for
mer three-term
- senator from
^ This is not
about the past;
this is about the
future. The reality
is, we need to
have a change in
ag policy”
Bill Bradley
^Baaotiatic candidate
mew jersey, squared on m an nour-iong aerate at me lowa
Public Television Studios in this Des Moines suburb. The
Iowa caucuses, the nation’s first presidential contest, are
scheduled for Jan. 24. *
Saturday^ debate included one of foe candidates’ first
detailed discussions of agricultural policy, an important
issue in Iowa, where the farm economy has struggled in
recent years.
The candidates agreed that foe 19% Freedom to Farm
Act, which introduced market-based reforms into foe form
economy, should be replaced.
Bui Gore attacked Bradley for past Senate votes against r
ethanol subsidies and relief for formers whose crops were
destroyed by Mississippi River flooding in 1993.
At one point Gore asked a former in foe audience to
stand. Saying the flooding had destroyed crops on foe man^s
400-acre form, he asked Bradley why he voted againgtdis
aster relief.
“I think the premise of your question is wrong,”
Bradley answered “This is not about foe past; this is about
foe future. The reality is, we heed to have a change in ag pol
icy.”
Gore responded: “I understand why you don’t want to
talk about the past.” He then posed the same question to
Please see DEBATE on 6
Student dies in accident
By Kimberly Sweet
Staff writer
A 19-year-old UNL student died
Thursday night when he lost control
and rolled his car cm a county road near
' Brule.
Tyler Dam, a freshman general
studies major, rolled his car four to
five times before he was ejected from
his 1994 Pontiac Grand Am, said Sgt.
Rob Robinson of the Keith County
Sheriff’s Office.
He was pronounced dead when
authorities arrived at the scene.
Robinson said Dam was not wearing
his seat belt
The accident happened around
11:15 p.m. Dam was driving home
after dropping off his girlfriend, said
Ann Kramer, Dam^s grandmother.
The accident happened in Brule,
10 miles from Ogallala - Dam’s home
town.
Kramer said Dam loved attending
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
and was getting anxious to come back
after the three-week winter vacation.
A high school cross country run
ner and basketball player, Dam loved
all kinds of sports, Kramer said.
“He was a big Huskers fan,” she
said. “He was really sports-minded.”
Dam also loved listening to music,
Kramer said.
Funeral services are at 1 p.m.
today at the Methodist Church in
Ogallala.
Kramer said Dam loved life and
lived it to the fullest
“Heh going to leave a huge hole in
our lives,” she said.
l