LINCOLN — The attorney for accused murderer Aubrey Trail wants to discover whether Gov. Pete Ricketts, a staunch supporter of capital punishment, had any influence on the decision to seek the death penalty for Trail and his girlfriend.
Attorney Ben Murray, Trail’s court-appointed defense attorney, filed a motion on Friday to discover “all communications” between the governor’s office and attorneys with the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, who are prosecuting Trail and who decided to seek the death penalty.
Murray said that he is not alleging wrongdoing by the governor and only has suspicion of his office’s involvement, but that any decision to seek the death penalty must not be based on “improper influence or bias.”
“Seeking death on the basis of political or personal gain would constitute an improper reason to seek the execution …” stated the motion.
“I feel like we have a right to know,” Murray said in a telephone interview. “It’s too important not to find out if everything is on the up and up.”
The governor’s office spokesman, Taylor Gage, said that they do not comment on pending litigation.
The discovery motion is another bizarre twist in an already bizarre case.
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Trail, 52, and his girlfriend, Bailey Boswell, 25, are accused in the slaying and dismemberment of Lincoln store clerk Sydney Loofe. Loofe, 24, disappeared after arranging a date with Boswell via an Internet dating app, Tinder, on Nov. 15, 2017.
Trail and Boswell went on Facebook as a massive search was underway to find Loofe to say they were not responsible. Weeks later, after they were arrested, Trail called reporters to say he accidentally strangled Loofe to death during a sexual fantasy. Boswell, according to Trail, was not there during the slaying, but assisted in disposing of the body.
Last summer, the Attorney General’s Office announced that the death penalty would be sought for both Trail and Boswell.
That was about 1½ years after Nebraskans voted to restore capital punishment in Nebraska via a referendum that was backed by Ricketts financially and via his public statements. The governor gave $300,000 toward the petition drive to put the matter on the ballot; his father, TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, gave $100,000.
The initiative was launched after the Nebraska Legislature, in the spring of 2015, voted to abolish the death penalty over a veto from the Republican governor.
Friday’s motion by Trail’s attorney stated that the “potential for improper influence” from Ricketts was illustrated by his spending “substantial” personal sums to support the effort to restore the death penalty, and because state attorneys — rather than prosecutors from Saline County — chose to take over the prosecution of Trail.
Trail, who shared an apartment in Wilber, Nebraska, with Boswell, is scheduled to stand trial on June 17 at the Saline County Courthouse. Boswell’s trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 15.
The 23 men Nebraska has put to death
Twenty-three people have been put to death by the state of Nebraska since the state took over the task from individual counties in 1903. The World-Herald has reported on every execution. A look at that coverage:
Gottlieb Niegenfind, hanged on March 13, 1903, for the murder of Anna Bryer and Albert Bryer, his ex-wife and her father. Read original coverage of the execution.
William Rhea, hanged on July 10, 1903, for the murder of saloon keeper Herman Zahn. His last words were to the hangman: "Don't draw it quite so tight." Read original coverage of the execution.
Harrison Clark, hanged Dec. 13, 1907, for the murder of streetcar conductor Ed Flury during a robbery. Read original coverage of the execution.
Frank Barker, hanged Jan. 17, 1908, for the murder of Daniel and Alice Barker, his brother and his brother's wife. Just before he was executed, he made a final appeal to Gov. George Sheldon, who visited him in his cell. Sheldon declined to delay his death. Read original coverage of the execution.
Robert Shumway, hanged March 5, 1909, for the murder of Sarah Martin. Shumway was a hired hand at the Martin farm and killed Martin during a robbery of the farmhouse. Read original coverage of the execution.
Bert Taylor, hanged Oct. 28, 1910, for the murder of his sister-in-law Pearl Taylor. Read original coverage of the execution.
Thomas Johnson, hanged May 19, 1911, for the murder of Henry Frankland during a robbery. Read original coverage of the execution.
Albert Prince, hanged March 21, 1913, for the murder of prison warden Edward Davis. Read original coverage of the execution.
Alson Cole and Allen Grammer, sent to the electric chair on Dec. 20, 1920, for the murder of Grammer's mother-in-law, Lulu Vogt. The two were the first to die by electric chair in the state. Read original coverage of the execution.
James King, sent to the electric chair on June 9, 1922, for the murder of prison guard Robert Taylor. Read original coverage of the execution.
Walter Simmons, sent to the electric chair Aug. 11, 1925 for the murder of Spencer garage owner Frank Pahl. Read original coverage of the execution.
Henry Bartlett, sent to the electric chair April 29, 1927, for the murder of Minden Police Chief Asa Ranson after the robbery of a hardware store. Read original coverage of the execution.
Frank Carter, known as the Omaha Sniper, was sent to the electric chair June 24, 1927, for the murder of William McDevitt and A.D. Searles. As he was being strapped into the chair, he quipped to The World-Herald, "I'm in a pretty tight place here." Read original coverage of the execution.
Frank Sharp, sent to the electric chair on Oct. 19, 1928, for the murder of his wife, Hariet Sharp. Read original coverage of his execution.
Henry Sherman, sent to the electric chair May 31, 1929, for the murder of Roger, Hattie and Eugenie Pochon. Read original coverage of the execution.
Joseph MacAvoy, sent to the electric chair March 23, 1945, for the rape and murder of Anna Milroy. Read original coverage of the execution.
Timothy Iron Bear, sent to the electric chair Dec. 1, 1948, for the ax murders of ranchers John and Grace Stollar. Read original coverage of the execution.
Roland Sundahl, sent to the electric chair April 30, 1952, for the abduction and murder of waitress Bonnie Lou Merrill. Read original coverage of the execution.
Charles Starkweather, sent to the electric chair June 25, 1959, for the murder of Robert Jensen. Starkweather also murdered 10 others. Read original coverage of the execution.
Harold Otey, sent to the electric chair on Sept. 2, 1994, for the rape and murder of Jane McManus. Read original coverage of the execution.
John Joubert, sent to the electric chair for the murders of three boys in Maine and Nebraska. Read original coverage of the execution.
Robert Williams, sent to the electric chair on Dec. 2, 1997, for two murders and a series of Lincoln rapes. Read original coverage of the execution.
Carey Dean Moore was executed on Aug. 14, 2018, the state's first execution in 21 years and its first by lethal injection. Moore was sentenced to death for the murders of Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland. Moore, 60, had served 38 years on death row for the 1979 killings of the Omaha cabdrivers who were shot five days apart. Read more
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so what if he did? does that make this murder less appalling? any excuse will do....
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