Supreme Court Denies Gonzalez Homicide Conviction Appeal

The Nebraska Supreme Court has denied the appeal of 20-year-old Jake J. Gonzalez of Lincoln.Gonzalez was convicted in Jefferson County District Court on October 25, 2021, of intentionally inflicting the injuries that lead to the death of a two-year-old child.On October 25, 2021, after little more than two hours deliberation, a jury found Gonzalez guilty of both child abuse resulting in death, a Class 1B felony, and terroristic threats, a Class 3A felony. On January 6, 2022, he was sentenced to 70 to 80 years for the death and three years for terroristic threats.The basis for the appeal was two-fold.According to the Brief of Appellant fled by Gonzalez' attorney, Kelly S. Breen of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, “The trial court ignored known and cited precedent in failing to instruct the jury upon a lesser-included offense.”Breen alleges the court erred when it did not instruct the jury to consider the lesser sentenced of involuntary manslaughter.However, the Supreme Court concluded that, “Under these instructions, when the jury found Gonzalez guilty of intentional child abuse resulting in death, it necessarily found that Gonzalez acted knowingly and intentionally and rejected a finding that he acted only negligently.”In addition, the appeal claimed the trial court erred in denying the defense's motion to change venue.The brief quoted the prosecutor for the State, who noted there was a “whirlwind of media and gossip” about the case. The brief stated, “Clearly the State admitted the existence of much more than a storm in the community prejudicing the appellant's right to a fair trial.”States in the Supreme Court's decision, “Gonzalez offered no evidence of news articles or other media publications concerning the case. He offered no evidence on the nature, circulation or publication date of any pretrial publicity. Instead, he points to the 25 potential jurors who were struck and the State's comment on the 'whirlwind of media and gossip.' However, assuming there was a 'whirlwind of media and gossip,' without affidavits or other evidence, Gonzalez failed to meet his burden to establish that the pretrial publicity was pervasive and misleading rather than purely factual.”The Supreme Court therefore ruled against Gonzalez.

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