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A week before the start of Douglas County CSI director David Kofoed's trial on a felony evidence tampering charge, his defense attorney has asked off the case.
Omaha defense lawyer Steve Lefler filed the motion Monday in Cass County District Court. Kofoed's criminal trial is slated to begin next week. Kofoed has waived his right to a jury trial and asked Cass County District Judge Randall Rehmeier to decide the case.
Special prosecutor Clarence Mock has accused Kofoed of planting or manufacturing blood evidence in the April 2006 shotgun slayings of rural Cass County farmers Wayne and Sharmon Stock. The blood evidence Kofoed produced played a pivotal role in the continued detention of the original defendants, Matthew Livers and Nicholas Sampson, even after overwhelming evidence linked the killings to a pair of Wisconsin teenagers who later pleaded guilty.
“Dave is a great guy,” Lefler said. “I believe in his innocence, totally. I feel like I am kicking Dave while he's down, but I have not gotten paid from the first day, and he can't come up with any money.
“The only person in the courtroom not getting paid is me.”
Kofoed hired Lefler to defend him against federal charges related to the same case, as well as the state charges he now faces.
Kofoed was acquitted in the federal case in September. Lefler then filed a claim with Douglas County seeking $25,640 in legal fees and expenses for that case. The Douglas County Board has delayed action on the claim since last October.
Kofoed has been on paid administrative leave from his $80,000-a-year county job since being indicted in April. Several weeks ago, he filed a financial affidavit in Cass County District Court. The judge agreed after the affidavit was filed to allow Cass County to pay for Kofoed's defense costs unrelated to attorneys fees.
Lefler said he doesn't know what the court will do with his request to withdraw as counsel. Judge Rehmeier may tell Lefler it's too late and proceed with next week's bench trial as scheduled.
Or the judge might let Lefler withdraw and appoint an alternative public defender, Nebraska City defense attorney Michael Ziskey. (The Cass County Public Defender's Office cannot defend Kofoed because of a conflict of interest. Public defender Julie Bear represented Livers, who spent several months jailed on double murder charges before being released in December 2006.)
“I just feel terrible,” Lefler said. “But I am just exhausted as a human being can be. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday preparing for (this week's pretrial motion hearings).”
Last month, the Douglas County Board hired Lefler to represent Douglas County's top crime scene investigator in two ongoing civil lawsuits at $200 an hour. Both lawsuits were filed by Livers and Sampson, the two men wrongly accused in the slayings of the Murdock farm couple.
The civil suits name multiple defendants, including Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning and the county itself.
Contact the writer:
444-1056, john.ferak@owh.com
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