A judge has rejected Carey Dean Moore’s request to reconsider his death sentence.
Douglas County District Judge Thomas Otepka issued the ruling Thursday, reiterating his stance that his duty was to determine only whether Moore had received a fair trial and sentencing hearing before he was sentenced to death. Otepka concluded that Moore had.
Moore was sentenced to die in 1980 for the 1979 murders of Omaha cabdrivers Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland, both 47-year-old fathers.
Moore’s court-appointed attorney, Jerry Soucie, raised several issues about the state’s purchase of one of the death drugs used in lethal injection — issues he promises to raise on appeal.
He now has the option of appealing to the Nebraska Supreme Court or filing a similar appeal in federal court.
Soucie also plans appeals for another death-row inmate, Michael Ryan, who is scheduled to die March 6. — Todd Cooper
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
