The Nebraska Supreme Court heard oral argu­ment on August 30, 2018 in a case chal­leng­ing the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the state’s cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing pro­ce­dure, which requires a three-judge pan­el to decide whether to impose a death sen­tence. Attorneys for death-row pris­on­er John Lotter said the state’s three-judge sen­tenc­ing vio­lates the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments as applied to Florida’s cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing law in Hurst v. Florida. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the Sixth Amendment required ​“a jury, not a judge, to find each fact nec­es­sary to impose a sen­tence of death.” ​“Nebraska is the only active death penal­ty state with­out a sen­tenc­ing struc­ture that allows a jury to make the cen­tral find­ings of fact to impose a death sen­tence,” said Rebecca Woodman, an attor­ney rep­re­sent­ing Lotter. Under Nebraska law, a jury deter­mines whether aggra­vat­ing fac­tors are present, decid­ing if a defen­dant is eli­gi­ble for the death penal­ty, but judges weigh those fac­tors against mit­i­gat­ing fac­tors and decide whether the defen­dant receives a death sen­tence or a sen­tence of life in prison. James Smith, solic­i­tor gen­er­al for Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, argued that the sen­tenc­ing scheme is con­sti­tu­tion­al, say­ing, ​“Finding aggra­vat­ing fac­tors is the fact that’s sig­nif­i­cant, the fact that juries must decide. The aggra­vat­ing fac­tors are what makes the defen­dant death-eli­gi­ble.” Woodman dis­agreed: ​“Nebraska’s statu­to­ry scheme is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al because it bases a death sen­tence not on a jury’s ver­dict, but on judge-only find­ings of crit­i­cal facts nec­es­sary to impose a sen­tence of death.” She also argued that the rul­ing should be applied retroac­tive­ly, grant­i­ng new sen­tenc­ing hear­ings to every­one on Nebraska’s death row. 

(Joe Duggan, Death row inmate Lotter argues sen­tenc­ing pro­ce­dure is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, Omaha World-Herald, August 30, 2018; JoAnne Young, Decision in Florida case should undo Nebraska death sen­tences, attor­ney for death row inmate Lotter argues, Lincoln Journal Star, August 30, 2018.) See Sentencing.

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