Request to postpone
hearing for officer denied
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The
preliminary hearing for a white
police officer who fatally shot a
black man will not be delayed,
Douglas County Judge Lawrence
Barrett ruled.
Officer Jerad Kruse is
charged with manslaughter for
fatally shooting George Bibins,
35, on July 19 after pursuing him
in a stolen Jeep.
A grand jury is required by
law to investigate the shooting. It
is scheduled to convene Aug. 21,
three days after the preliminary
hearing.
The Douglas County
Attorney’s office cited special
prosecutor Sean Brennan’s con
cerns that the hearing could taint
the grand jury pool in dsking for
the delay.
Kruse’s attorney, Mike
Fabian, said concerns about
tainting the grand jury should
have been addressed before
Kruse was charged and press
releases issued by the county
attorney^ office.
The situation has raised ques
tions over the responsibility for
prosecuting Kruse. Douglas
County Attorney Jim Jansen has
said it is his statutory obligation
to prosecute crimes within the
county and filed charges of
manslaughter and using a
weapon to commit a felony.
A grand jury is required by
law to investigate cases when
someone is shot while in police
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custody or in the process of being
arrested.
The grand jury can indict
Kruse on criminal charges.
Judge to deckle appeals of
discipline order against
doctor
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) —
The Nebraska attorney general’s
office believes a Lexington doc
tor accused of giving substan
dard care to at least four patients,
including one who died, received
too lenient a punishment from
the state’s chief medical officer.
Dr. Kerrey Buser thinks the
order against him was too harsh.
Lancaster County District
Judge Steven Burns on
Wednesday heard appeals from
both sides, but made no immedi
ate ruling.
Buser in February was
ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and
work under close scrutiny of
medical examiners for one year.
A state board had wanted his
medical license to be revoked.
The state argued in its appeal
that the sanction imposed on
Buser was excessively lenient
considering his prior history of
discipline in Minnesota, the evi
dence presented at the hearing
and the Nebraska Board of
Medicine and Surgery’s recom
mendation his license be
revoked.
Buser was disciplined by the
Minnesota Board of Medical
Examiners in 1997 after four of
his patients there also died.
"Enough is enough,”
Assistant Attorney General Jim
Smith argued. "The medical
board recommendation to revoke
his license should be upheld.”
Buser’s attorney, Patrick
Meyer of Omaha, said the testi
mony and evidence entered at the
earlier hearing do not prove that
Buser committed malpractice or
is guilty of unprofessional con
duct.
He pointed out there was no
hearing on the Minnesota cases;
Buser entered into a stipulation
and an order.
Buser nas aeniea wrongdo
ing, and he has said the cases
under question in Nebraska rep
resent a small portion of the more
than 1,900 surgical procedures
he has performed since moving
to the state in 1995.
Nebraska Chief Medical
Officer Richard Raymond said
Buser clearly erred in four of the
Nebraska cases, including one
involving a 60-year-old woman
who bled to death when Buser
failed to recognize a massive
hemorrhaging that developed
from his abdominal surgery on
her.
Teen-ager charged, will be
tried as an adult
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP)
— A North Platte teen-ager will
be tried as an adult after being
charged with first-degree murder
in the shooting death of Maricela
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Martinez, 18.
Lincoln County Attorney Jeff
Meyer filed charges Tuesday
against Tyler Keup, 16. His bond
was set at $5 million.
He also was charged with
felony use of a firearm and pos
session of a firearm.
Martinez died of a single
gunshot wound to the head from
a .25-caliber semiautomatic
handgun, police said. Her body
was found in a mobile home
Friday afternoon.
' Neighbors told police that
after they heard a loud bang they
saw a young male leave the trail
er and ride away on a bicycle.
According to police records
Keup’s father contacted police
and told them his son had wit
nessed the shooting.
Keup and his father went to
the police and the youth turned in
the gun, the records showed.
Police arrested the 16-year
old about 10 p.m. CDT Friday.
Police said Keup and
Martinez were acquaintances.
Rally provides Chadron
with economic boost
CHADRON, Neb. (AP) —
For some people, a 125-mile
motorcycle ride is the perfect
way to start the day.
Those who are making that
trip to the 60th Sturgis
Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis,
S.D., this week are providing an
economic boost for Chadron,
where hotels are filled with peo
i
pie planning to attend.
The event is expected to draw
more than 400,000 bikers to the
Black Hills and forced some par
ticipants to seek out accommoda
tions well away from the center
of the action.
There are advantages, some
participants said, to being on the
fringes of what is admittedly a
noisy event.
' 'Coming back here at night,
I can get some sleep,” Stanley
Bell of Canton, Mo., said.
Chadron is a nice ride from
the Black Hills and the South
Dakota Badlands, Jim "Hop
Sing” Spurgeon, also of Canton,
said.
A Chadron motel costs less
than staying at a Sturgis camp
site, Gay la Griffin of LaGrange,
Mo., said.
Olde Main Street Inn owner
Jeanne Goetzinger said she has
been catering to bikers on their
way to the Sturgis rally for years.
Many bikers make it an overnight
stop and others stay for the week,
she said.
"It’s a beautiful site when
they start coqiing in on their
bikes,” Goetzinger said.
Goetzinger, who hosted a
beer garden on the weekend
before the rally, said other busi
nesses have followed her lead.
Rally visitors are a welcome
site to Pine View Motel owners
Virg and Sharon Gruhn, who said
the travel season has been slow.
' 'They’re a very nice group
of people,’’.she said.
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