Lawsuit to block death penalty referendum cites Ricketts' role

Sept. 17, 2015, 4:29 a.m. ·

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Unused table intended for executions in Nebraska's death chamber (Photo by Bill Kelly, NET News)

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Opponents of Nebraska’s death penalty today filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking efforts to put the issue on next year’s election ballot.

The Nebraska Legislature overrode Gov. Pete Ricketts veto and voted to abolish the state’s death penalty last May. In August, death penalty supporters turned in what they said were more than enough petition signatures to prevent repeal from taking effect, pending voters’ decision in a referendum next November. Today/Thursday, death penalty supporters filed a lawsuit in Lancaster County District Court asking that the referendum be blocked. (To see the lawsuit, click here).

Alan Peterson, a lawyer for death penalty opponents, says there is a fatal flaw in the paperwork death penalty supporters filed to begin their petition campaign. "The main claim in this suit is that a critical error was made in the filings – that is to say the sworn list of sponsors doesn’t include someone we think was the main sponsor: Gov. Pete Ricketts," Peterson said.

The lawsuit says Ricketts warned of a referendum if his veto was overridden, got political allies to organize the campaign, raised money for it as governor and made the largest contributions to it, but he was not named as a sponsor.

Ricketts is on a trade mission in China and could not be reached. But Chris Peterson, spokesman for Nebraskans for the Death Penalty dismissed it as “frivolous.”

"The opponents are almost certainly not going to be able to win at the ballot box and so their only hope is some desperate hail mary’s to try and defeat this issue in the courts. And we’re confident they’re not going to be successful," Peterson said.

Death penalty opponent Alan Peterson says courts generally give defendants 30 days to respond, followed by discovery of further evidence, pushing a potential trial toward the end of this year or early next.