Former Deputy Found Not Guilty

After less than two hours of deliberation, a jury of five found Wilbur U. Young, 59, of Plymouth, a former deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, not guilty of failure to serve a felony warrant.Failing to serve a felony warrant by a law enforcement officer is a class 2 misdemeanor that carries a possible penalty of up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.The trial took place on Monday, March 4, 2022. Linda Bauer was the presiding judge. Jury selection began in the morning and was completed at 10:50 a.m., when jurors were sworn in. The trial took the remainder of the day and well into the evening. Closing arguments were not heard until almost 7 p.m. and were not completed until almost 8 p.m.At that point, the judge asked the jury if they wanted to deliberate that evening or wait until the next morning. The jurors all opted to remain.The final verdict was delivered at 9:45 p.m.The AllegationAccording to the citation, “On, about or between the 27th day of October, 2020 through the 26th day of November, 2020, knowingly neglect or delay to serve a felony arrest warrant against Jerry Barnes for a violation of felony probation, while serving in the capacity of a sworn law enforcement officer with a duty to immediately execute such warrants.”Nels Sorensen was Jefferson County Sheriff at that time. He appeared as a witness during the trial, as did his successors, Matthew Schultz and Nicholas Georgi, the current Sheriff.After a complaint was filed, an investigation into Young’s conduct was undertaken by the Nebraska State Patrol and Young was terminated from his position in October of 2021.Deputy Young pleaded not guilty. He was represented by attorney Lyle J. Koenig of Beatrice. At arraignment on November 24, 2021, Koenig told Judge Bauer, “We are going to request a jury trial and as far as we are concerned, your Honor, you can go ahead and schedule that.”The state was represented by Corey M. O’Brien with the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office.The crux of the matter is when Deputy Young first learned about the arrest warrant for Barnes. Young admitted to encountering Barnes while on duty but said he was not aware of the warrant at that time.Barnes is a six-time convicted felon who testified that he asked Deputy Young not to arrest him shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday and said he promised to turn himself in the following Monday. He did not do so and would not be arrested until several months later.Young took the stand in his own defense and denied the allegation.Rift in the Sheriff’s OfficeA clash between Young and another deputy and a complaint filed led to then Chief Deputy Matt Schultz taking all of Deputy Young’s drug cases and assigning them to the other deputy. However, Schultz indicated this was not because Young had done anything wrong. Instead, Schultz said, “I was just tired of everyone fighting in that office.”Young is also one of three candidates currently running for Sheriff of Jefferson County. The other candidates are incumbent Sheriff Nick Georgi, who was appointed to the position last year by Jefferson County Commissioners after the previous Sheriff, Matt Schultz, resigned; and Cody Barry, a deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office who was one of five candidates under consideration when commissioners were searching for Sheriff Schultz’s replacement.

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