29-2525. Capital punishment cases; appeal; procedure; expedited opinion.

In cases when the punishment is capital, no notice of appeal shall be required and within the time prescribed by section 25-1912 for the commencement of proceedings for the reversing, vacating, or modifying of judgments, the clerk of the district court in which the conviction was had shall notify the court reporter who shall prepare a bill of exceptions as in other cases and the clerk shall prepare and file with the Clerk of the Supreme Court a transcript of the record of the proceedings, for which no charge shall be made. The Clerk of the Supreme Court shall, upon receipt of the transcript, docket the appeal. No payment of a docket fee shall be required.

The Supreme Court shall expedite the rendering of its opinion on the appeal, giving the matter priority over civil and noncapital criminal matters.

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Annotations

An appeal pursuant to this section does not place the burden of creating the record upon either party to the appeal. Instead, pursuant to section 29-2521.04, the district court must provide all records required by the Nebraska Supreme Court in order to conduct its review and analysis. The Nebraska Supreme Court has the authority and the obligation to enforce the requirement that all records for any automatic appeal under this section are filed with the Clerk of the Supreme Court. State v. Dunster, 262 Neb. 329, 631 N.W.2d 879 (2001).

This statute requires the Supreme Court to review all cases in which the death penalty has been imposed. State v. Victor, 235 Neb. 770, 457 N.W.2d 431 (1990); State v. Joubert, 224 Neb. 411, 399 N.W.2d 237 (1986).

A determination of whether a defendant is a sexual sociopath is of no importance where a death sentence has been imposed. The purpose of the sexual sociopath law is to provide confinement with treatment for those persons subject to the laws who are amenable to treatment and confinement without treatment for those subject to the law but not amenable to treatment. Sentencing is not to be delayed indefinitely where sexual sociopath proceedings have been instituted. Once the death penalty has been imposed, none of the defendant's contentions concerning the sexual sociopath law requires further consideration. State v. Otey, 205 Neb. 90, 287 N.W.2d 36 (1979).

Supreme Court automatically reviews each case where death penalty imposed, comparing all previous capital cases where death penalty has or has not been imposed under the new death penalty statute. State v. Simants, 197 Neb. 549, 250 N.W.2d 881 (1977); State v. Rust, 197 Neb. 528, 250 N.W.2d 867 (1977).