Death row inmate loses appeal

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By the Lincoln Journal Star

Death row inmate David Dunster’s claim that his guilty plea should be vacated because he was under the influence of medications was rejected by the Nebraska Supreme Court Friday.

Dunster was later sentenced to death in the case, which stemmed from the 1997 strangulation of his cellmate at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.

In subsequent communications with the Lancaster County District Court in the case, Dunster fired his court-appointed lawyer, at one point telling the Judge Paul D. Merritt Jr. he would rather receive the death sentence than spend the rest of his life in prison.

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Dunster

Dunster

In a July 1999 hearing, Dunster told the judge he was taking Prozac and Depakote, among other medications, but that the drugs did not affect his ability to understand the court proceedings.

Dunster suffers from hepatitis C, diabetes and bipolar disorder.

Merritt, finding that Dunster knowingly waived his right to an attorney, accepted the guilty plea, but strongly urged Dunster to have an attorney at the sentencing.

Dunster refused, at one point saying, “It is really a pain in the ass to get you people to kill me.”

At the sentencing hearing that November, Dunster submitted a letter in which he wrote a death sentence would be his “‘parole and pardon all in one.’”

Merritt sentenced Dunster to death in January 2000.

Dunster’s current attorney, Jerry Soucie, then filed a motion for a new trial, arguing that Correctional Services medical records, some of which were unavailable earlier, showed that Dunster had serious health problems that made him unable to waive his right to an attorney.

The Supreme Court rejected the claim Friday, finding that many of Dunster’s health problems arose after he was sentenced. In addition, the court said, Merritt would have reached the same conclusions on Dunster’s competence even if all the records had been available to him.