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Nebraska Supreme Court says death row inmate Torres raised question too late

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The Nebraska Supreme Court rejected death-row inmate Marco Torres Jr.’s appeal of a district court's denial of a post-conviction relief hearing to challenge the state’s method of determining who gets the ultimate punishment.

The state’s highest court found the challenge was filed too late because Torres didn't raise the issue within a year of the Jan. 12, 2016, decision in Hurst v. Florida.

Torres’ attorney, Jeff Pickens of the Public Advocacy Commission, argued that the U.S. Supreme Court decision — which said jurors must make every finding necessary in order for someone to be sentenced to death — put the constitutionality of Nebraska's sentencing procedures in doubt.

In a decision Friday, the court didn’t address that question, saying only that Torres’ motion was time-barred under the Nebraska Postconviction Act and that the district court judge was right to deny him a hearing.

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"Torres’ successive motion is not timely … because he filed his motion more than 1 year after the release of the opinions in Hurst and Johnson — the U.S. Supreme Court cases that Torres contends announced a 'newly recognized right,'” wrote Justice Stephanie Stacy.

In Hurst, the nation's high court found that a man's death sentence in a 1998 murder case violated the Sixth Amendment because, under Florida's sentencing scheme, a judge, not a jury, made the critical findings necessary to impose the death penalty.

In Nebraska, juries decide whether aggravating factors exist to justify an execution. If so, a three-judge panel then determines whether the aggravating factors outweigh any mitigating factors in the defendant's favor to warrant a death sentence.

Torres, 43, was sent to death row on two counts of first-degree murder for killing roommates Timothy Donohue, 48, and Edward Hall, 60, in Grand Island in 2007. His DNA was found at the crime scene and he had used Hall's debit card two days before his body was found.

Death row inmates

Nebraska's 11 death row inmates

Jose Sandoval

Jose Sandoval, Jan. 31, 2005, Madison County. Sandoval was convicted with Jorge Galindo and Erick Vela of shooting and killing Lisa Bryant, 29, Lola Elwood, 43, Samuel Sun, 50, all Norfolk, Jo Mausbach, 42, Humphrey, and Evonne Tuttle, 37, of Stanton, in a botched attempted bank robbery.

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Nikko Jenkins

* Nikko Jenkins, May 30, 2017, Douglas County. Eleven days after his release from prison, where he had been for 10 years for two carjackings, Jenkins shot and killed Juan Uribe-Pena and Jorge Cajiga-Ruizon on Aug. 11, 2013. Eight days later, Jenkins killed Curtis Bradford, a one-time prison acquaintance. Then, on Aug. 21, he pulled Andrea Kruger from her SUV as she drove home from work and shot her four times before speeding off in her vehicle.

NATI HARNIK, Associated Press file photo

John Lotter

* John L. Lotter, Feb. 21, 1996, Richardson County. Lotter and Marvin Nissen were convicted of killing Teena Brandon, 21, of Lincoln, a transgender male. They killed Brandon in 1993 to silence him after he told police they had raped him. They also killed Lisa Lambert, 24, and Phillip DeVine, 22, who lived in the same house as Brandon and witnessed the killing. Lotter has maintained his innocence.

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Raymond Mata

* Raymond Mata, June 1, 2000, Scotts Bluff. Mata was convicted of killing and dismembering 3-year-old Adam Gomez, his former girlfriend’s son, in 1999. Prosecutors said Mata fed parts of the boy's body to a dog, and kept some of his remains in the home to intimidate the boy’s mother.

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Jorge Galindo

* Jorge Galindo, Nov. 10, 2004, Madison County. Convicted with Jose Sandoval and Erick F. Vela for shooting and killing Lisa Bryant, 29, Lola Elwood, 43, Samuel Sun, 50, all Norfolk, Jo Mausbach, 42, Humphrey, and Evonne Tuttle, 37, of Stanton, in a botched attempted bank robbery.

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Erick Vela

* Erick F. Vela, 34, Jan. 12, 2007, Madison County. Convicted with Jose Sandoval and Jorge Galindo for shooting and killing Lisa Bryant, 29, Lola Elwood, 43, Samuel Sun, 50, all Norfolk, Jo Mausbach, 42, Humphrey, and Evonne Tuttle, 37, of Stanton, in a botched attempted bank robbery.

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Jeffrey Hessler

* Jeffrey Hessler, May 18, 2005, Scotts Bluff County. In 2003, Hessler kidnapped, raped and murdered 15-year-old newspaper carrier Heather Guerrero.

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Roy Ellis

* Roy L. Ellis, Feb. 6, 2009, Douglas County. Ellis abducted, sexually assaulted and killed 12-year-old Amber Harris, who died of at least two blows to the head. Ellis has said he used a hammer, and he may also have strangled her.

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Marco Torres

* Marco E. Torres, Jan. 29, 2010, Hall County. In 2007, he tortured and killed Edward Hall, 60, binding him with an electrical cord, gagging him with a bathrobe belt and shooting him three times. He then shot and killed Timothy Donohue, 48, who lived in a room upstairs in Hall's home. The men were killed to conceal a robbery.

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Aubrey Trail

Aubrey Trail (left) was sentenced to death June 9, 2021, for killing Sydney Loofe and dismembering her body.

FRANCIS GARDLER, JOURNAL STAR file photo

Marco E. Torres Jr.

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Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LJSpilger.

Lori Pilger

Lori Pilger | Lincoln Journal Star

Courts reporter

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Marco Torres Jr.

Marco E. Torres Jr.