Nebraska Supreme Court rejects appeal from death-row inmate Aubrey Trail

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the appeal of death-row inmate Aubrey Trail, who argued, among other things, that jurors became prejudiced against him after he attempted suicide in their presence.

The court, in a 65-page ruling, agreed with the trial judge, Saline County District Judge Vicky Johnson, that Trail’s suicide attempt was “a calculating gesture resulting in superficial cuts.”

The high court upheld his death sentence and rejected arguments that the state’s death penalty law was unconstitutional.

Trail, a 56-year-old convicted con artist, was sentenced to death for the November 2017 slaying and dismemberment of Sydney Loofe, a Lincoln Menard’s clerk, who was lured by Trail and his girlfriend via the dating app Tinder.

Trail’s girlfriend, Bailey Boswell, 28, was also convicted of first-degree murder, but she was spared the death penalty and instead was sentenced to life in prison.

‘I curse you all’

During the third day of a three-week trial, Trail, as a witness was being seated to testify, screamed out, “Bailey is innocent, and I curse you all.” He then began slashing at his neck with a razor blade he had smuggled into the courtroom from his jail cell.

The disruption halted the trial, and Trail was transported to a local hospital, bleeding from his neck.

Trail’s defense lawyers immediately moved for a mistrial, arguing that the jury was now prejudiced against him in determining whether he had a history of violence, a qualifier for the death penalty.

Jurors questioned

Johnson deferred ruling, saying she would question each juror individually to see if they could still be impartial. The jurors, one by one, assured the judge they could, and the trial resumed.

Trail eventually returned to attend his trial, seating in a wheelchair with a large bandage on his neck.

Later, after jurors found Trail guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, his lawyers moved for a new trial, again asserting that the suicide attempt prejudiced jurors against him and that the negligence of Saline County jailers in allowing him to obtain a razor blade contributed to “the severity” of the incident.

Talk of witches, torture

The judge rejected the motion, and the Nebraska Supreme Court agreed. The court also rejected several other lines of appeal on behalf of Trail.

The trials of Trail and Boswell were among the most sensational in state history. Trail, even before he was tried, called reporters and said he alone had killed Loofe, a story that changed over time.

There was court testimony about Trail and Boswell talking about “covens” and “witches” and about torturing and killing someone to gain “powers.”

During his trial, Trail testified that such talk was only “fantasy” and that Loofe had died accidentally during a consensual sex act involving choking. But autopsy results refuted that story and instead suggested that she had been violently strangled.

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