Judge rules out felony prosecution in infant's death
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BY ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star
SEWARD — A Seward County district judge this week barred the way to felony prosecution of Lucas Peterson of Pleasant Dale in the 2007 death of his infant daughter.
Judge Alan Gless said Peterson led law enforcement officers to daughter Trista’s shallow grave in Butler County four months later, only after he was led to believe he would not be prosecuted on felony charges.
In a 13-page ruling on numerous motions to suppress evidence in the case, Gless sometimes sided with the prosecution and sometimes with the defense.
Jan. 28, 2006 - Trista Michelle Peterson is born to Jennifer Williams and Lucas J. Peterson.
Dec. 20, 2006 - Williams, 25, begins serving sentence at women’s prison in York for theft by unlawful taking and issuing bad checks.
December 2006 - Trista last seen by relatives.
Jan. 3, 2007 - Lucas Peterson allegedly picks up Trista in his Pleasant Dale apartment, throws her into playpen that served as her bed, then leaves room. When he returns, she is dead.
Jan. 4, 2007 - Peterson allegedly buries Trista’s body in Butler County.
Jan. 24 and Feb. 24, 2007 - Karen Peterson files missing person reports on her son, Lucas Peterson.
March 28, 2007 - Lucas Peterson is arrested by Seward County Sheriff’s Office on outstanding warrant unrelated to Trista. He tells investigators he does not know where Trista is. He later tells investigators Trista is "in a safe place."
April 12, 2007 - Peterson leads investigators to Butler County location where Trista’s body is believed to be buried.
April 13, 2007 - Child’s remains recovered from shallow grave in southeast Butler County.
April 24, 2007 - Peterson is charged in Seward County Court with child abuse, death of a child and tampering with physical evidence. Bond is set at $1 million.
June 22, 2007 - Peterson pleads not guilty, waives preliminary hearing; trial set for October.
Wednesday - Seward County District Judge Alan Gless rules prosecution must drop felony charges against Peterson because of promises made to Peterson if he would lead investigators to Trista’s grave.
Sources: Nebraska State Patrol, Seward County and District Court records
But the net effect was the same.
“Lucas performed his understanding of his part of the agreement, and in performing, he acted to his detriment,” the judge said.
“Thus I order the state to: honor the cooperation agreement, charge Lucas Peterson with concealing the death of a human . . . a Class I misdemeanor, and dismiss the present charges against him.”
Peterson, who had faced up to life in prison, now faces a maximum sentence of one year behind bars.
Seward County Attorney Wendy Elston had sought a conviction in April 2007 for a felony offense officially classified as “child abuse, death of a child” and also for unlawful burial, another felony.
That followed a trip that Peterson made with Seward County Sheriff Joe Yocum and other law officers to a grave site near a grove of cedar trees about three miles off Nebraska 92 in Butler County.
A few days later, Elston said autopsy results showed evidence of “severe, multiple, blunt force trauma to the head, neck, and trunk” of a child who was about a year old at the time of her death.
Trista’s mother, Jennifer Williams, was serving time at Nebraska’s Correctional Center for Women in York at that point. Grandmother Arlene Williams of Milford said Thursday the family would have no comment and referred questions to Elston.
Elston was out of the office and unavailable for questions.
Yocum said he needed to be especially cautious with his reaction, for reasons that included further legal developments in the case.
“You can imagine for yourself that there is a level of disappointment here in looking at the ruling,” the sheriff said.
He expects to be part of discussions with Elston and Assistant Attorney General Doug Warner, also involved in the prosecution, “to discuss the next step in seeking justice for Trista Peterson.”
Lucas Peterson, 23, remains in jail in Seward County on multiple unrelated misdemeanor charges and is scheduled for sentencing March 10.
He was in jail on those same charges in early 2007 as Yocum and his staff tried to respond to family concerns and to solve the mystery of Trista Peterson’s whereabouts.
Jeff Pickens, an attorney with the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, has represented Lucas Peterson during many of the court sessions leading up to the judge’s ruling.
Pickens said Thursday he regarded Gless’ reasoning as “absolutely correct” under the circumstances.
Citing previous cases, Pickens said “it’s pretty clear that, when the police make promises — like the promise that was made to Lucas, and then Lucas performs to his detriment in relation to that promise — then there is an agreement and the state is bound by that agreement.”
Judges don’t have latitude in such situations, Pickens said. When the state doesn’t use proper procedures, “a judge, under those circumstances, has no choice but to follow the law.”
As he moved toward his legal conclusion, Gless cited several factors that led him there.
Among them, “The state did not advise Lucas of his constitutional rights during the interrogation in which the offer for the cooperation agreement was made. The state made the offer to Lucas without the advice of defense counsel. The state did not put the terms of the agreement in writing in advance.”
Pickens said he didn’t want to comment on Peterson’s guilt or innocence in his daughter’s injuries.
“The only thing he can be charged with now is a misdemeanor,” he said, “but that’s because of that agreement that the state offered Lucas.“
Still, “this may not be over,” Pickens said.
“As it stands now, according to the (Gless) order, the prosecution is required to amend the charge, dismiss the felony charges, and charge Lucas with the offense they promised they would charge him with when he helped find Trista’s body.“
The maximum sentence for a Class I misdemeanor is one year behind bars. The possible sentence for “child abuse, death of a child” is 20 years to life.
Leah Bucco-White, spokesperson for Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, couldn’t shed much light on what happens next from the prosecution side.
“We just got the order yesterday,” Bucco-White said, “and we’re currently reviewing all our options.”
Reach Art Hovey at 473-7223 or at ahovey@journalstar.com.
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