Accused Omaha killer "took orders from an Egyptian god"

[cptmarginal]

I just read about this, which is currently in the news in Nebraska, via Google searches for some of the more suspicious names from Nick Bryant's Franklin Scandal. (In case anyone has forgotten, there's a sporadically updated sub-forum here dedicated to the book)

The judge in Nikko Jenkins' case was previously the attorney for the insane child-abusing Webb family, Barbara Webb being Larry King's cousin. The foster children involved said they were afraid of this attorney, for whatever reasons, so that prompted my search.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140210/N ... 19889/1694

Lawmakers to consider special investigation of Nikko Jenkins' imprisonment

February 10 2014

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature would conduct a special probe into the state's imprisonment of Nikko Jenkins under a resolution advanced by a committee on Monday.

Jenkins is accused of four slayings in the Omaha area just days after his July 30 release from prison.

Prior to his release, Jenkins, who said he took orders from an Egyptian god, had threatened to kill people when he left prison and had also asked to be committed to a mental hospital.

State Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha said that his release under those circumstances raises several questions about the state's prison system, including the adequacy of mental health care, the use of disciplinary segregation and why prison officials didn't seek a mental health commitment.

“He promised to kill people, and we do nothing about it,” Lathrop said.

The Department of Correctional Services Special Investigative Committee, if approved by the full Legislature, would utilize existing legislative staff and issue a report by Dec. 14.

The Legislature's Executive Board voted 9-0 to forward Legislative Resolution 424.

Lathrop, an Omaha trial attorney, has experience in such special investigations. He led the Legislature's probe of the troubled Beatrice State Developmental Center that led to several improvements in the care of the developmentally disabled.

State prison officials have said they had no choice but to release Jenkins because he had completed his prison sentence. They have said he did not suffer from a mental illness that would respond to treatment.

The special legislative committee would work in conjunction with the Legislature's Performance Audit Committee, which recently authorized a preliminary look at the issues surrounding the Jenkins case.

http://www.jrn.com/kmtv/news/Accused-Ki ... 32561.html

Accused Killer Sent Bizarre Letter to Judge; Asked for Help

Sep. 6, 2013



Omaha, NE -- Court records show Nikko Jenkins wrote cryptic letters to a Douglas County District Judge just two weeks before he was released from prison. But he also asked for help dealing with mental illness multiple times before his alleged killing spree.

Accused murderer, 26-year-old Nikko Jenkins, spent a decade of his life incarcerated on Robbery and Assault Charges. On July 11, 2011; Jenkins was sentenced for assaulting a corrections officer by Douglas County District Court Judge Gary Randall.

Transcripts from that sentencing indicate he acknowledged that he wasn't taking medication for psychiatric issues.

"The medication is to basically kill my adrenaline because when I have mental breakdowns I become enraged and lash out on others," Jenkins explained at the sentencing.

Jenkins went on to say he wanted the court to make him get mental health treatment before he's released because he didn't have that much time left on his prison sentence.

Judge Randall said after sentencing it's in the hands of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.

"I don't have the jurisdiction to say you go there. If I did, I probably would," Judge Randall said.

"I just want to make sure that's clear on the record. That I have numerous times expressed my need of mental health treatment," Jenkins responded.

He was sentenced to 2-4 years in prison, and given 513 days credit.

Two years later, Jenkins contacts the same judge sending him a cryptic letter with the writing in the shape of a diamond. He includes a photo of a woman with facial tattoos. One legible part was written on the back of the envelope. It says, "The kingdoms power I protect with nature of animalistic savage brutality."

Jenkins was released from prison 16 days after the letter was sent.

An evaluation from the Lincoln Regional Center indicated Jenkins may be making up his mental illness. At that 2011 sentencing, Jenkins attorney said that's not true, and the reason is because of the number of tattoos on his face.

http://neprepzone.com/article/20130905/NEWS/130909328

Judge's math let Nikko Jenkins out of prison early

September 5, 2013

Nikko A. Jenkins should have been in prison through 2013 and into 2014.

That isn't the philosophical conclusion of a tough-on-crime advocate.

It's a mathematical one.

While serving a prison sentence for two 2003 robberies, Jenkins was convicted and faced up to five years in prison for the December 2009 assault of a prison guard during a furlough for his grandmother's funeral in Omaha.

On July 12, 2011, Douglas County District Judge Gary Randall sentenced Jenkins to two to four years in prison — a term that is cut to one to two years under state sentencing guidelines.

Randall specifically ordered the term to run consecutively to Jenkins' previous sentences — meaning that Jenkins should have had two years in prison tacked onto his total sentence.

However, Randall gave Jenkins credit for 513 days that he had served in the Douglas County Jail after being transferred there from the Tecumseh State Prison while he awaited trial.

Prosecutor Katie Benson objected, arguing that Jenkins should receive no credit for that time served.

Benson's argument: Even though Jenkins was in Douglas County, the time he was serving there was for his original sentence in the robberies — and shouldn't count in the assault of the guard.

“The state would ask that ... whatever sentence you impose, it (should) run consecutive and that he not receive credit,” Benson said, according to a transcript of that hearing.

Under state law, Randall said, he believed that he had to give Jenkins jail credit because Jenkins had been transferred from the state prison to Douglas County and was under Randall's jurisdiction while he awaited trial.

“Since he's here incarcerated, I thought the way they did it is he got credit for this charge for the time that he spent here,” Randall said in the transcript. “But he's getting no credit for the (prison sentence).”

Randall said Wednesday that he believed that the State Department of Correctional Services would make the necessary adjustments to Jenkins' time served to ensure that Jenkins served an additional two years.

However, corrections spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith — while not commenting on Jenkins' case — said corrections has no leeway to depart from any judge's order. “Absolutely none,” she said. “The judge's order is what it is.”

Bottom line: The granting of jail credit effectively reduced the time tacked onto Jenkins' sentence from two years to about seven months.

And it was the opposite of what a previous judge had done. In 2006, Douglas County District Judge James Gleason sentenced Jenkins to the equivalent of a year in prison for assaulting a fellow inmate.

Gleason ordered the sentence to run consecutively. He declined to credit Jenkins for time served because Jenkins was in prison on the robbery charge. “Credit for 0 days given,” Gleason wrote.

[semper occultus]

.....maybe he was signed up to the same AMORC chapter as Sirhan Sirhan....or SPECTRA is back in orbit and making calls....

[cptmarginal]

Yeah, it's pretty suggestive. The words "special investigation" don't exactly inspire confidence these days either. I'm just surprised to immediately find something so bizarre and current when all I did was search for this guy's name plus "omaha"

Here's the relevant extracts from Bryant's book that prompted my search:

On January 2, 1986, shortly after Eulice’s disclosures to Kathleen Sorenson, the sisters met their guardian ad litem, Patricia Flocken, for the first time. Flocken had a private practice in Fort Calhoun and served as a guardian ad litem for several children, including the girls’ adoptive brother Wally. Flocken remembered showing up at the Sorensons’ house in a yellow jogging suit, which was a recent Christmas present, and being teased for not looking very lawyerly. Shortly after her arrival, though, the atmosphere became dreadfully serious.

Kathleen Sorenson watched as Eulice and Tracy discussed the physical abuse in the Webb household—their allegations of physical abuse corresponded closely with the allegations Wally had made to Flocken. The girls also talked about being terrified of the Webbs’ lawyer, and then they started to mention Barbara Webb’s cousin. They said he was powerful and politically connected, and they were terrified of him—Flocken had never heard of Larry King before. After Eulice started to feel comfortable with Flocken, she brought up her molestations at the hands of Jarrett Webb. Tears streamed down her face as she discussed being violated by Webb. Flocken left the Sorenson home that day troubled and concerned.

In February, Eulice and Tracy had their relinquishment hearing. The Webbs’ lawyer attended the hearing, but the Webbs were conspicuously absent. In a rather bizarre twist, the presiding judge ruled that Eulice and Tracy were “uncontrollable,” so the Webbs were voluntarily relinquishing their parental rights. The judgment made absolutely no mention of the inhumane abuse and torment, even though DSS documents are replete with seemingly countless incidents of abuse.

Right after the relinquishment hearing, Flocken was shocked: Eulice told her that Tripp and the Webbs’ attorney, Gary Randall, had informed her that she and Tracy were immediately scheduled for a deposition with Randall. Flocken later said she approached Tripp and inquired why she hadn’t been notified of the girls’ forthcoming deposition—Tripp responded that since the girls’ parental rights were terminated, she was no longer their guardian ad litem. Flocken replied that she would accompany Eulice and Tracy to the deposition and represent the sisters pro bono. A major feature of the deposition was Randall grilling Eulice about her allegations of sexual abuse, but she refused to recant the allegations.

[cptmarginal]

Nikko Jenkins files federal lawsuit against prison system

Nikko Jenkins ruled competent to stand trial

Those are Omaha World-Herald articles (the same paper that conducted itself shamefully throughout the whole Franklin affair)

Nikko Jenkins is competent to stand trial, a judge ruled Thursday.

Douglas County Judge Peter Bataillon refused to send Jenkins to the state's psychiatric hospital — saying Jenkins is aware of what's going on in the prosecution against him.

Jenkins, 27, is accused in the Aug. 11 slayings of Juan Uribe-­Pena and Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz; the Aug. 19 killing of Curtis Bradford; and the Aug. 21 slaying of Andrea Kruger.

Bataillon's ruling concerned only whether Jenkins could understand the court proceedings against him — it was not to determine whether he was sane or insane at the time of his alleged crimes.

Bataillon noted that Jenkins carried on a clear conversation with the judge throughout last week's competency hearing, and he noted that Jenkins was concerned that specific constitutional rights “were violated.”

“This was evidence of defendant's ability to comprehend his rights, convey his reasons why he believed his rights had and were being violated, and to follow the request(s) of the court,” the judge wrote.

Bataillon said a defense psychiatrist was concerned about Jenkins' ability to have rapport with his attorneys.

“However, this court finds that defendant has the ability to assist in his defense if he so desires,” Bataillon ruled.

Jenkins repeatedly has asserted that he is schizophrenic and hears commands from an Egyptian god he calls Opophis or Ahpophis. In the past couple of years, two doctors have declared him schizophrenic.

However, three other psychiatrists have suggested that Jenkins is feigning mental illness and using it to try to escape punishment.

On the competency issue, doctors were trying to decide whether Jenkins met a three-pronged test: that he understands the charges against him, that he understands the court process and that he is able to actively participate in his defense.

Two doctors differed. A psychiatrist hired by Jenkins, Dr. Bruce Gutnik, said he was incompetent in part because he thought Jenkins would be unable to have rapport with his attorneys. A state psychiatrist said Jenkins is not only competent but also is crafty.

Bataillon's decision came a day after Jenkins filed a federal lawsuit against the Nebraska prison system that housed him for 10 years before his release, blaming corrections officials for “4 killings.”

In the hand-written six-page lawsuit filed Wednesday — complete with exhibits and references to statutes and constitutional amendments — Jenkins claims that spending half of his prison time in solitary confinement resulted in suicide attempts and facial scars from self-mutilation.

“These state officials Failed to protect public Safety By not seeking the civil Committment oF A dangerous person oF mental illness,” Jenkins wrote. “Released After July 30th, 2013, Nikko Allen Jenkins confessed to Four 4 Killings murdering 4 omaha Nebraska citizens In Human Sacrifice to Ahpophis Egyptian WAR GOD.”

In addition to former corrections director Robert Houston, Jenkins names as defendants a warden, three state prison therapists, an assistant state ombudsman and State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha. Chambers and the ombudsman both tried to get Jenkins help or a commitment to a mental hospital before his release.

“I Am Seeking monetary damages in 24.5 million dollors $ As the four large Facial Wounds I Suffered Have deeply scared my Face For life yet the Emotional destress pain And Suffering is Also life long.”

About 9 a.m. Wednesday, Jenkins left a voicemail on a World-Herald reporter's phone — reading from pleadings in a complaint against Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine.

Beyond mispronouncing the word “interrogatory,” he capably asserted several allegations that he thinks should result in a finding that his rights were violated.

Kleine has said there is no merit in Jenkins' contention that Kleine improperly revealed that Jenkins had been ruled competent to stand trial in the case.

Jenkins seemingly has been stuck on asserting purported constitutional violations, even as his lawyers and a psychiatrist question whether he is competent to stand trial.

Last week, on the day of his competency hearing, Jenkins repeatedly interrupted the hearing to assert his claims that his rights were violated.

He also reportedly was on a phone call at the Douglas County Jail instructing a girlfriend on how to further arrange for hearings on the filings.

Ernie Chambers, named as a defendant in Jenkins' lawsuit, was one of the prime instigators in expanding the Franklin Credit Union investigation to include allegations of child abuse and human trafficking.

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/18/us/a- ... omaha.html

A Lurid, Mysterious Scandal Begins Taking Shape in Omaha

By WILLIAM ROBBINS, Special to the New York Times

Published: December 18, 1988

For several weeks a Federal investigation has riveted attention here on a failed local credit union formed to help the poor, on $38 million that it is missing and on its manager, a nationally active Republican politician whom the Government accuses of embezzling at least some of the funds.

Now the inquiry, joined by state investigations, is widening and has begun to take on the stark trappings of lurid melodrama.

The collapse of the credit union and the Government's lawsuit alleging embezzlement were the extent of the case, at least on the public record, until last Monday. Then rumors that had been circulating in Omaha for much of the last month made their way into remarks presented to the Executive Board of the State Legislature in Lincoln. The speaker was State Senator Ernie Chambers of Omaha, who said he had received numerous reports, to which he clearly gave credence, that instances of child sexual and physical abuse were linked to the scandal.

Mr. Chambers did not describe the nature of that linkage and has consistently declined to identify the sources of the reports, going only so far as to tell The Omaha World-Herald that they were people ''I consider credible.'' But participants in a closed meeting that followed the Executive Board's public session say he told of boys and girls, some of them from foster homes, who had been transported around the country by airplane to provide sexual favors, for which they were rewarded.

My impression of Chambers was (and remains) that he was something of a local hero for his actions regarding the Franklin scandal. He was certainly considered as such at the time, for daring to follow up on the allegations.

This ritual abuse victim named David Shurter seems to have a problem with him, for what it's worth:

The Problem I Have With Senator Ernie Chambers and the Rest of the So Called Investigators of Franklin Credit

[seemslikeadream]

Felon charged with four murders in Omaha metro area (AUDIO)
September 4, 2013 by Karla James


Nikko Jenkins mug shot

A man already in an Omaha jail cell accused of making terroristic threats is now facing four counts of first degree murder. At a joint news conference today with Omaha Police, Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, the Douglas County Attorney’s Office, the FBI and the U-S Marshall’s Office officials say 26 year old Nikko Jenkins is accused of murdering four people in the Omaha metro area from August 11th through August 21st.Jenkins is also accused of killing Curtis Bradford on August 19th at 18th and Clark. He is also accused of killing Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz and Juan Uribe-Pena on August 11th. Their bodies were found inside a pick up at 18th and F Streets and Andrea Kruger on August 21st near 168th and Fort.
Authorities say tips to Crime Stoppers and ballistic evidence led to arrest of Jenkins for murder. They say while questioning Jenkins he possibly implicated himself and others for the murders. Jenkins did know victim Curtis Bradford but the other three were random acts.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says if all the evidence holds together it is likely that Jenkins will face the death penalty. The investigation is ongoing and authorities are not ruling out there were accessories to the murders.
Jenkins had just been released from prison on July 30th. He served nine years for robbery. He had been sentenced to 21 years in prison for an armed carjacking in Omaha but he qualified for Nebraska’s “good time law” despite an escape attempt and an assault on a corrections officer.

'Street smarts' tell doctor that Nikko Jenkins is 'crazy ... totally insane'
By Todd Cooper / World-Herald staff writer



Two psychiatrists took the stand Wednesday and methodically gave their opinions about whether Nikko Jenkins is competent to stand trial on four first-degree murder charges.

The state psychiatrist soberly said he is. The defense psychiatrist stoically said he isn't.

Then came Dr. Eugene Oliveto.

The 72-year-old psychiatrist — who announced that he used to be in a “rock 'n' roll band” — wasn't there to declare Jenkins' competency. He acknowledged that he doesn't do such evaluations — nor does he make such declarations.

However, the part-time psychiatrist at the Douglas County Jail made plenty of other declarations — about the prison system, the mental health commitment process, even Jenkins himself.

At one point, he called Jenkins — in “street” terms — “totally insane.” That drew a chuckle from Jenkins.

Oliveto said he would love to see a scan of Jenkins' brain.

“This guy's brain — he'd be so disconnected from his frontal lobes,” Oliveto said. “He's disconnected from his heart and he's disconnected from his soul.”

Oliveto was called by the defense to try to rebut prosecutors' contentions that Jenkins is faking mental illness to try to excuse his behavior. Officials say that behavior includes the Aug. 11 slayings of Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz and Juan Uribe-Pena; the Aug. 19 slaying of Curtis Bradford; and the Aug. 21 slaying of Andrea Kruger.

A psychiatrist for 40 years, Oliveto rarely stuck to the script on the stand. He both rebutted and, at times, reinforced prosecutors' idea that Jenkins is faking.

The colorful graduate of St. John's University in New York — who attended the Creighton University School of Medicine in the 1960s — had treated Jenkins while Jenkins was in the Douglas County Jail in 2010 and 2011.

Oliveto was one of two doctors to declare Jenkins schizophrenic. Three other doctors have disputed that, saying they believe Jenkins is feigning mental illness.

Is he competent to stand trial? Judge Peter Bataillon is expected to make a decision on that issue later this week.

“I can't tell you whether he's competent to stand trial,” Oliveto said. “I'm just saying he's crazy ... totally insane.”

Prosecutor Brenda Beadle asked if Oliveto meant that as a diagnosis.

“I'm using (the word insane) loosely,” Oliveto said. “It's just part of my street smarts.

“He could do things purposefully at times. ... He's not always psychotic.”

Oliveto acknowledged that Jenkins often refers to acting under the command of Opophis — an Egyptian serpent god.

Oliveto waved a hand in the air as if swatting that notion away.

“If I've got to listen to him about this BS one more time — I'm tired of hearing that.

“It's totally in his hard head. Is he making it up? If he (is), he sure is consistent.”

Oliveto said Jenkins is one of the most dangerous patients he has treated. Just this week, Oliveto said he asked Jenkins if Jenkins would kill Oliveto on command of Opophis.

Jenkins smiled, leaned back and thought about it “for about five minutes,” Oliveto said.

“He hesitated and his voice got real low and he said, 'No,'” Oliveto said.

Jenkins then explained that he liked Oliveto and that the “Holy Spirit” sometimes intercepts the purported commands from Opophis, Oliveto said.

It didn't hurt that “five armed guards” were in the cell with Oliveto, the doctor said.

Oliveto acknowledged that Jenkins can be manipulative. When Jenkins was in the Douglas County Jail, Oliveto said, he prescribed him psychiatric medicine. But Jenkins quit taking the pills after two weeks.

“Because I wouldn't give him a snack,” Oliveto said with a huff.

Oliveto also railed about the reason Jenkins had been in the Douglas County Jail. State prison officials had allowed Jenkins to go on a furlough to Omaha to attend his grandmother's funeral in December 2009. Jenkins then attacked the Tecumseh prison guards who escorted him — and tried to escape.

“Somebody was stupid enough to let him go to the funeral in the first place,” Oliveto said.

Oliveto also said he tried to get Jenkins committed to a mental health institution. Jenkins' family made the same request to authorities in Tecumseh, where Jenkins was imprisoned.

However, prison officials transferred Jenkins to the state penitentiary in Lincoln before his July 30 release — and no civil commitment was sought.

Authorities have suggested that such a commitment wasn't sought because Jenkins is an antisocial psychopath. That's a personality disorder, not a treatable mental illness.

Beadle asked Oliveto: “Do you think he's a psychopath?”

Oliveto: “I know he is. ... He's worse. He's one of the most dangerous people I have ever been in contact with. He should have never been let out.”

[8bitagent]

Omaha...home of the elite satanic Republican pedo network in the 1980s
(visa vi boys town and missing kids)

Omaha...home of the 9/11 touch down command center

Omaha...home of the horrific mass mall shooting in 2007 that happened at the same moment
President Bush was giving a speech a few miles away

Naw, doesn't surprise me in the least

[cptmarginal]

http://omaha.com/article/20140307/NEWS/140308947/1694

Saying public deserves answers, Legislature OKs special investigation into Nikko Jenkins case

Published Saturday, March 8, 2014 at 12:00 am / Updated at 8:53 am

LINCOLN — Saying the public deserves answers, Nebraska lawmakers on Friday approved a special investigation into accused killer Nikko Jenkins' incarceration and release.

The Legislature voted 31-0 to create a seven-member legislative oversight committee, with subpoena powers, to dig into the case.

State Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha, who introduced the resolution, said oversight is needed because the Department of Correctional Services has not been forthcoming about how it dealt with Jenkins.

“The public deserves to know how Nikko Jenkins was allowed to walk the streets of Omaha and allegedly cause the death of four people,” Lathrop said.

The committee was one of two special legislative investigations launched on Friday.

The other will look into the problem-plagued state call center system that handles public benefits applications.

Legislative Resolution 424 charges the Department of Correctional Services Special Investigative Committee with studying Jenkins' history, including juvenile justice and child welfare involvement, and how the state prison system handled him.

The study is to look into Jenkins' threats to kill, his requests for treatment and prison officials' response.

Jenkins was released July 30, despite repeatedly saying he wanted to get out and kill people and repeatedly asking to be sent to the state psychiatric hospital. He was not sent to the hospital.

Instead, he is back behind bars, accused in four killings that occurred within a month of his release.

State prison officials have said that Jenkins was not mentally ill, and that under state law, they had no choice but to release him from prison upon completion of his sentence.

Lathrop said the public needs to know if Jenkins is like a canary in a coal mine — an early warning of more serious problems in the prison system.

Nebraska's prisons have been overcrowded for months. The inmate population stood at 156 percent of capacity as of Feb. 28.

The new committee is tasked with investigating whether prison overcrowding played a role in Jenkins' release.

It also is charged with looking into the department's programs and policies, especially concerning isolation of prisoners in segregated cells and supervision of inmates upon their release.

“We are in a perfect storm,” Lathrop said, adding that the committee will be a vehicle to facilitate prison reform.

The Judiciary Committee is working on bills starting the reform process. The state also has asked for help from the Council of State Governments, which has worked with other states on changing how they handle criminals.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha told colleagues that members of the committee cannot be timid in recommending changes. He said they also must be willing to work hard and “get into the muck and mire.”

“We need to inject humaneness into a very inhumane system,” he said, adding that the corrections system “created the monster that was sent amongst us.”

Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln said lawmakers have a responsibility also to corrections employees. Coash, who has five corrections facilities in his west Lincoln district, said workers report that the growing numbers of inmates make safety more and more difficult to achieve.

Neither corrections officials nor Gov. Dave Heineman's office responded to a request for comment Friday.

In January, corrections officials disputed a report from the State Ombudsman's Office questioning how the department had handled Jenkins, while Heineman accused the ombudsman of being soft on crime.

http://www.ketv.com/news/nikko-jenkins- ... y/25051834

Nikko Jenkins doesn't want to face a jury

UPDATED 2:50 PM CDT Mar 19, 2014

The man accused in a summer killing spree doesn't want to face a jury. Instead, KETV NewsWatch 7 has learned, Nikko Jenkins plans to ask the court for a bench trial.

If Judge Peter Bataillon grants the request, he will decide whether Jenkins is guilty after the prosecutors and Jenkins make their cases.

Anthony Wells, the man prosecutors said gave Jenkins a gun at a party hours after his release from prison, was found not guilty by way of a bench trial in Bataillon's court earlier this month.

Last week, Bataillon agreed to allow Jenkins to represent himself, dismissing the public defenders assigned to the case. The public defender's office will still advise Jenkins throughout the process outside of the courtroom, however.

The hearing on waiving a jury trial will happen at the end of March. If the judge grants Jenkins' motion at that hearing, the accused killer should also get a trial date.

Authorities tied Jenkins to the August 2013 murders of Juan Uribe-Pena, Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, Curtis Bradford and Andrea Kruger. Jenkins faces four counts of first-degree murder.

Omaha police allege Jenkins carried out the killings just days after he was released from prison for robbery and assault, serving only about half of his actual sentence in accordance with Nebraska's law on good time for inmates.

Since Jenkins' arrest in late August, questions have been raised about his mental state. The murder suspect has not held back references to an Egyptian god that he says ordered him to carry out the killings in interviews with investigators and letters to the media. But last month, a judge ruled that Jenkins is competent to stand trial.

Jenkins has said he's intellectually capable of representing himself in court.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140402/NEWS/140409691

Nikko Jenkins acts as prosecutor in court Wednesday

Published Wednesday, April 2, 2014 at 10:52 am / Updated at 11:41 am

Wednesday provided an early glance of what promises to be an ongoing saga: Nikko Jenkins as amateur lawyer.

For a moment, it turned into Jenkins as prosecutor.

Jenkins — the accused killer who is representing himself against four murder charges — continued to pound a theme he has been pounding for three months: that Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine violated his rights by telling The World-Herald that a psychiatrist had deemed Jenkins competent to stand trial, before that information had come out in court.

Jenkins said Kleine was “minimizing and lying” about when and why he disclosed the information.

“That is perjury, Your Honor,” Jenkins said. “He committed perjury. . . .That's a Class IV felony.”

Jenkins wasn't getting far in trying to get the prosecutor prosecuted.

Nor did he get far in his other desire: to get the judge to throw out the four murder charges against him in the Aug. 11 slayings of Juan Uribe-Pena and Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, the Aug. 19 slaying of Curtis Bradford and the Aug. 21 slaying of Andrea Kruger.

After a two-hour hearing, Judge Peter Bataillon declined to throw out the case or to dismiss Kleine as prosecutor.

Bataillon routinely cut off Jenkins — saying the state’s competency evaluation of a defendant is not confidential. Therefore, Kleine did not violate Jenkins’ rights.

“It's not privileged,” Battailon said. “It's an independent medical examination . . . which is not privileged.”

Later, the hearing entered another bizarro phase: a murder defendant calling to the stand the man who is prosecuting him.

For about 20 minutes, Jenkins questioned Kleine — often repeating the same assertions.

Bataillon let out a sigh, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

“Mr. Jenkins — Mr. Kleine knows the laws of the State of Nebraska,” the judge said at one point.

And so it went in Jenkins' first formal hearing since deciding to represent himself in the killings of four Omahans.

Jenkins has filed motions to dismiss the charges against him because of Kleine's disclosure that Jenkins was competent. No murder case has ever been dismissed because a prosecutor disclosed that a defendant was competent to stand trial.

From the witness stand, Kleine pointed out the irony of Jenkins' complaints that his privacy was violated.

“You've released all of your medical information to various media outlets,” Kleine said. “All those things have been brought to issue by your actions.”

Later, as Jenkins railed away and repeated the same assertions, the judge piped up.

“Mr. Jenkins, you've gone over this ad nauseam with Mr. Kleine,” Bataillon said. “Sir, you have one question left, and let's get going here.”

Jenkins also called to the stand World-Herald reporter Alissa Skelton, who wrote the article in question. Skelton confirmed that Kleine had told her that Dr. Y. Scott Moore had determined Jenkins to be competent to stand trial.

Jenkins attempted to get Skelton to disclose when Kleine told her that information.

Omaha attorney Michael Cox, representing Skelton and The World-Herald, objected. Cox noted that Nebraska's shield law protects reporters from having to disclose any nonpublished information or how they gathered it.

Bataillon sustained Cox's objection.

“Anything that's not published, she does not have to disclose,” Bataillon said.

The hearing was expected to continue later Wednesday with Jenkins' motion to suppress purported admissions he made to investigators about the killings.

[cptmarginal]

I'm continuing to post on this just for some minor personal sense of closure about it, since it's so awful and I did bring it up in the first place. I'd never have posted it in the first place if it wasn't incidentally connected to the Franklin affair, via the judge who let Jenkins out of jail early against his own pleas for help dealing with violent schizophrenia.

Nikko Jenkins pleads no contest, judge finds him guilty

Accused spree killer Nikko Jenkins walked into a Douglas County courtroom and left a guilty man in connection with the August 2013 murders of four people.

Jenkins, 27, began the hearing by trying to read a verbal motion. The judge interrupted him.

"I'm not letting you have a forum right now to gripe about things," Judge Peter Bataillon said. He told Jenkins to file anything with his court reporter, but that any motions would be mute if he plead guilty.

"Are you ready to plead?" the judge then asked.

"I'm going to plead out," Jenkins mumbled. "Hopefully everything gets exposed."

It was a sharp change in his normally loud, aggressive courtroom demeanor.

The judge asked on each count -- Jenkins plead guilty after pausing several times. During the hearing, the judge asked if Jenkins was freely knowingly and voluntarily entering the guilty pleas.

Jenkins responded, "They are voluntary, but they're not free."

The judge told Jenkins he couldn't accept the guilty pleas unless he knows the pleas are free and voluntary. Jenkins changed his mind, and told the judge the pleas were made freely and voluntarily.

The hearing then moved into factual basis, where prosecutors lay out the evidence for the charges. County Attorney Don Kleine took each crime chronologically, describing the murders and the arrest of Jenkins.

Jenkins interrupted Kleine repeatedly, asking where specific bullet wounds were on each victim's body. As Kleine described the Spring Lake murder victim autopsies, Jenkins interrupted."

"What was that? It went through the eye?" Jenkins asked of the gunshot wound to Juan Uribe-Pena. He laughed.

When Kleine described how Curtis Bradford died, Bradford's mom left the courtroom in tears.

"I'm ready for the next stage. I am glad there is a guilty verdict, and I'm ready to move on. It's too hard for me. It's too hard for my family. It's too much, and I'm ready for all parties to have closure. We need closure now,” said Velita Glasgow, Bradford's mother.

At several points while Kleine laid out the evidence, Jenkins whispered under his breath: "Liar, liar."

Jenkins was silent as Kleine described how Andrea Kruger died. Kruger's husband and mother looked on at the man who plead guilty to killing her.

Then the hearing devolved -- Jenkins said none of the state's evidence was correct, and that he had no memory of killing anyone. He came armed with crime scene photos to try and prove his point. He spoke in gibberish and claimed the killings were sacrifices.

At that point, the judge interrupted Jenkins.

"Mr. Kleine, would you have any objection to me taking no-contest pleas?" the judge asked.

Kleine agreed to the no-contest pleas, and Jenkins then changed his pleas to no contest. The judge then accepted the factual statements from prosecutors, and found Jenkins guilty of all charges.

KETV NewsWatch 7 spoke with Jenkins on the phone after the hearing. When challenged about his pleas and the victims, Jenkins continued to turn the conversation to himself. He repeated his argument that he's not responsible.

“What we need to be focused on is how I begged these people, while I’m laying in cells with nothing, nothing in the middle of wintertime, carving into my face, crying to these people in tears, begging them to get me treatment,” Jenkins said.

When asked if he took any responsibility for the murders, he said, “I did not commit these crimes. Me, as Nikko, did not commit these crimes.”

“In things that were transpiring at these times, I was so distraught, detached, and I don't remember a lot of things that were happening when I was out there. This is not real. This didn't happen because I don't remember. This can't be. I don't even think those people are dead,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said he'll continue his fight in federal court, convinced his arguments against the prison system, Douglas County prosecutors and evidence tampering will eventually exonerate him.

When judge asks, Nikko Jenkins says ‘I killed them’

Nikko Jenkins spoke in tongues, or some language of his supposed serpent god. He smirked and laughed briefly as prosecutors recounted details of his victims' deaths.

He pleaded guilty, then refused to accept prosecutors' accounts of the shootings. He then pleaded no contest — and a judge found him guilty.

[...]

He pointed out that he had a history of successful carjackings in which he didn't kill — including two that led to his decadelong prison term. He also pointed out that he didn't take any of the cash in Kruger's purse.

He argued that he wouldn't hurt a woman — unless “Ahpophis” commanded him to.

In long, at times indecipherable dialogue, Jenkins insisted that the killings of Kruger and the others were human sacrifices, that he was merely the vessel that carried out the commands of Ahpophis, his serpent god.

“You can ask any woman in north Omaha, 'Have I ever raised a hand at them?' I haven't,” he said.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said Omaha police and Douglas County sheriff's deputies collected ample evidence of Jenkins' guilt.

And, he said, he had no doubt that Jenkins' conviction will stick, despite a bizarre day that included a rare, in-chambers meeting between the judge and Jenkins, absent prosecutors. And despite the judge reversing course Wednesday on his earlier insistence that Jenkins plead guilty or go to trial.

[...]

Jenkins didn't bring up voices until the end of the hearing, when Judge Bataillon asked him, point blank, if he had killed each victim. He claimed that “command voices” clouded his memory of the killings. He said he remembered that the voices matched phrases that are tattooed on his face.

“Kill them, destroy them, attack them,” he said, translating the words. “I was alone. And weapons. And the demons and Ahpophis and Lucifer.

“They were attempting to kill me. So I killed them under orders of Ahpophis.”

[...]

In the next breath, he asked Kleine to consider “taking the death penalty off the table.”

Jenkins noted that he had written letters before his release asking a judge, prosecutors, even a state senator to get him help before his prison release.

With the existence of those letters — which have been reported previously in The World-Herald — Jenkins suggested that prosecutors would be better off if they didn't pursue the death penalty.

Bataillon told Jenkins to call a press conference if he wanted to air those matters. The judge indicated that he is “strongly considering appointing an attorney” to represent Jenkins in the death-penalty hearing.

Jenkins leaned back in his chair, smirking.

“That's only if I care about it,” he scoffed.

Sen. Ernie Chambers tries to undo Nikko Jenkins' convictions

The Nebraska Supreme Court should refuse to appoint a three-judge panel to consider whether Nikko Jenkins deserves the death penalty — a move that would effectively nullify, for now, Jenkins' convictions in the killings of four Omahans, a state lawmaker says.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, a watchdog of both judges and death penalty cases, said he will write a letter to Chief Justice Michael Heavican asking him to halt the formation of the panel and to set aside Jenkins' no-contest pleas to the murders of Juan Uribe-Pena, Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, Curtis Bradford and Andrea Kruger.

Chambers, who holds a law degree, said District Judge Peter Bataillon was “as crazy in his handling of this (case) as Nikko Jenkins has proved himself to be.” Chambers said Jenkins, who represented himself in court, will not walk free again, but he shouldn't go straight to death row.

“Nothing about any of these proceedings has gone forward in a way that could be called judicious,” Chambers said. “There are so many irregularities that this could be called nothing but a kangaroo court.”

Bataillon declined to comment.

However, both Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine and Public Defender Tom Riley, who served as Jenkins' adviser, said Bataillon governed his courtroom as well as any judge could when dealing with a defendant who insists on representing himself and presenting his grievances.

Chambers said he is not advocating that Jenkins “walk free” — saying the 27-year-old will spend the rest of his life in prison.

However, he questioned how Bataillon could allow Jenkins to essentially plead to death row and make a “Barnum & Bailey” circus of the justice system.

Chambers said Bataillon committed the following “irregularities”:

» Allowing Jenkins to essentially fire the Public Defender's Office and act as his own attorney. Chambers pointed to a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states that even if a defendant is ruled competent to stand trial, that does not mean he is competent to represent himself.

Riley said, however, that there are nuances in that and other high court rulings. In one such ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court said that all defendants, if deemed competent to stand trial, have a right to enter guilty or no-contest pleas, even if they may not be skilled enough to handle a trial.

» Allowing Jenkins to plead no contest for Jenkins' stated reason: that he wanted to proceed with a civil rights lawsuit claiming he was being held on unconstitutionally obtained evidence. Jenkins clearly didn't understand the law, Chambers said.

Jenkins, he said, bought into the folly that other prisoners sometimes follow: that another judge, or a federal judge, will throw out the evidence and free him. Such actions, called writs of habeas corpus, rarely succeed.

» Allowing Jenkins to plead no contest after Bataillon initially said he would accept only a guilty plea.

Just last week, Bataillon rejected Jenkins' attempts to plead no contest to the killings. Bataillon said he had concerns about Jenkins' “competency to act as his own attorney” — noting Jenkins' “incongruent” requests. On one hand, he was complaining about his access to documents to prepare for trial. On the other hand, he was saying he wanted to plead.

With the death penalty on the table, Bataillon said then, Jenkins would have to plead guilty or go to trial.

Fast forward to Wednesday. Jenkins initially pleaded guilty to all the charges.

Prosecutors then gave the factual basis for the crimes, as is customary. The judge turned to Jenkins and asked if he had any problems with the factual basis.

Jenkins, who had scoffed at parts of the accounts, said he did.

Bataillon then asked him if he shot each victim.

To that, Jenkins claimed to have remembered being at the crime scenes but said he didn't remember any of the actual shootings because a serpent god had ordered him to shoot the people.

The judge leaned his head back and let out a long sigh.

He asked prosecutors if they had any objection to Jenkins' pleading no contest — reversing his stance from the week before. Prosecutors stated no objections.

Bataillon then asked Jenkins if his plan to plead no contest was his own “free and knowing” act.

“I wouldn't say 'free,' ” Jenkins said.

Bataillon noted that if the pleas weren't freely given, he couldn't accept them.

Seconds later, Jenkins agreed he was doing it of his own volition. He entered the no-contest pleas.

Chambers noted that Jenkins entered the pleas after he had made several complaints about his ability to prepare for trial, including access to police reports and the jail law library.

“There has been so much confusion in this case,” Chambers said. “The judge makes statements and then contradicts himself.

“What the judge should have done is just adjourn the hearing. It's clear from the way (Jenkins) comported himself in court that he was not competent enough to represent himself.”

Attorneys inside and outside the courtroom disagreed.

They pointed to signs that Jenkins knew what he was doing and several safeguards the judge took before accepting Jenkins' pleas:

» Kleine said Jenkins was crafty and calculating — far from “deranged,” as Chambers described him.

Jenkins capably argued some points, including a motion in which he attempted to get his confession thrown out. In that motion, he argued that detectives had coddled him and baited him, even hugging him, as he made his statements.

» A rare in-chambers meeting between Jenkins and the judge. Jenkins — accompanied by Riley and Scott Sladek, assistant public defender — aired several grievances, including his ability to access the jail law library.

No court reporter was present at that in-chambers meeting. However, Bataillon said he advised Jenkins that he would resolve those issues.

And, the judge said, he told Jenkins to be cautious — that Jenkins would forfeit all of his rights if he pleaded to the charges.

» A detailed recitation of Jenkins' rights.

Before allowing Jenkins to enter his pleas, Bataillon rattled off the battery of rights and challenges that Jenkins would be giving up. Judges typically recite that litany before accepting a plea.

Both Riley and Kleine said there wasn't a “circus atmosphere” as Chambers claimed. Outside the courtroom and on his way out of the courtroom, Jenkins often cursed or carried on — at one point, howling like a hound at the moon.

In court, Bataillon wasn't afraid to cut off Jenkins — once pounding his palm on the bench to get Jenkins to be quiet. On Wednesday, he didn't allow Jenkins to present crime scene photos of the killings.

“I don't think he lost control of the courtroom at all,” Riley said.

He said judges are obliged to give defendants representing themselves “a little bit of leeway. I think the judge did that — he allowed him to state his case, except when the defendant made statements that were not germane.”

Riley said Jenkins has a few options now.

He could try to withdraw his plea. In his more than 35 years as an attorney, Riley said, he can recall only one or two defendants who have been allowed to do so. High courts almost always uphold pleas.

He could seek civil relief. Chambers and several attorneys say Jenkins' civil lawsuit — seeking to throw out his arrest — is a long shot at best.

He could appeal Bataillon's ruling finding him competent to stand trial and competent to serve as his own attorney. Riley said that is Jenkins' most likely route — after his sentencing.

He said he doesn't know if the Nebraska Supreme Court would have recourse to intervene before appointing the three-judge panel, as Chambers has suggested.

[cptmarginal]

Collecting some stuff here.

U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear appeal from Omaha killer Nikko Jenkins - Apr 20, 2020

Nikko Jenkins' ex-wife, once suspected in nonfatal shooting, is now in prison too - Mar 9, 2020

Of the 3.8 billion men in the world, she is poised to marry Omaha serial killer Nikko Jenkins - Dec 14, 2019

The killings set off a debate about whether the Corrections Department should have better treated Jenkins, noting that he had spent more than half of his original 12-year prison sentence in solitary confinement.

The night Nikko Jenkins confessed - May 4, 2014 Updated Dec 11, 2015

Jenkins had been arrested five days earlier on an unrelated terroristic threats charge.

...

Jenkins tells the detectives that he needs to be “wired” to “go undercover and get you numerous convictions.”

A cousin with psychosis “is the one,” he says. “He's the shooter.”

...

Like an iPod on repeat, Jenkins bends Schneider's ear on:

» His purported schizophrenia. “I can see it,” Schneider says.

» His value as an informant. “Golden,” Jenkins says.

...

He says he provided his cousins only with “intelligence” information, telling them to go out west because most police officers would be downtown at a Lil Wayne concert. And he says he told them to find a dark intersection that doesn't have cameras... He claims his cousins wanted to kill so they could become part of his religion.

Suspect in death of Lincoln Special Olympian is a felon with family ties to Nikko Jenkins - Feb 3, 2016 Updated Jul 24, 2019

Anthony Wells could have been in jail.

In 2014, prosecutors had tried the convicted felon on charges that he provided his cousin, Nikko Jenkins, with the shotgun that Jenkins used to kill three of his four victims during an August 2013 murder spree in Omaha. However, a judge acquitted Wells after a trial.

And authorities were closing in on Wells on allegations that he had sold a weapon to an undercover informant or agent, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.

Nikko Jenkins' extended family has wreaked havoc on Omaha for generations - Dec 15, 2013 Updated Dec 11, 2015

Levi Levering was the respected face of his family a century ago, when he earned an impressive reputation as an Omaha tribal leader and advocate.

His influence extended from Macy, Neb., to Washington, D.C., where he successfully lobbied Congress in 1920 to protect tribal members' rights to their land.

Now the face of the family is Levi's great-great-grandson: Nikko Jenkins.

Jenkins stands accused of a 10-day killing spree in Omaha last August that left four people dead.

And five other relatives — two of Nikko Jenkins' sisters, his mother, a cousin and an uncle — have also been charged in connection with the killings.

A World-Herald examination of the Levering history shows that 38 descendants of Levi Levering have been convicted of 633 crimes in Omaha since 1979.

Those cases have cost taxpayers at least $2.8 million in prison and jail costs, not counting the price tag of law enforcement, juvenile cases, prosecution or public defense.

Family members have been involved in at least 150 other cases during that period that ended in acquittals, mistrials and dropped charges.

http://owh-projects.github.io/sandbox/levering/

Documents we used:

Court cases: criminal, civil, juvenile, protection orders
Police department rap sheets
Police reports
Social media, especially Facebook
Birth and death certificates
World-Herald archives
Prison and jail records
Online obituaries
Property records

http://www.indigenousbahais.com/omaha_bahais.php

Levi (He'-con-thin'ke or White Horn) Levering declared as a Baha'i on October 22, 1947.

He was born around 1870. He attended Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania and another government school known as Bellevue College in Bellevue, Nebraska. He is recorded as stating that he was the first Indian named Levering. The name was probably given to him at one of the Boarding Schools. HIs birth name was He’-con-thin’ke or White Horn. He was a member of the Tapa (Deer) clan. He was a delegate from the Omaha Nation to Washington. He was a member of the Tribal Council and also known as an interpreter.