Crago charged with 1st-degree murder; prosecution seeking death penalty
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BY CORY MATTESON / Lincoln Journal Star
Lancaster County deputies on Aug. 10 found two spent shotgun shells, a digital camera and a memory card inside a Jeep Cherokee that had been stolen at gunpoint earlier in the day.
One word was handwritten on the memory card’s label — “Baily.” Stored on it were photos of the couple who Brandon Crago, 34, is now accused of killing.
On Wednesday, Lancaster County Attorney Patrick Condon read 10 charges Crago faces, including two counts of first-degree murder.
Each murder charge carries a penalty of life in prison or death. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty for Crago, although Nebraska has no current means of executing a prisoner on death row.
When asked by Condon, and then Lancaster County Court Judge Jean Lovell, if he understood the charges, Crago, in a voice barely above a whisper, answered, “Yes.”
Condon said the murder counts are for the Aug. 10 deaths of Carolyn and Steve Baily, a rural Lancaster County couple whose bodies were found that day at their home by a neighbor. Authorities believe Crago killed them just days after fleeing from a federal court-ordered drug treatment program.
Before his Aug. 7 flight from the Hastings treatment center, Crago had been expected to plead guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln to a methamphetamine distribution charge.
Instead, Crago appeared in court to face 10 new charges: two counts of first-degree murder; two counts of robbery; four counts of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony; theft by unlawful taking; and being a felon in possession of a deadly weapon.
The charges encompass four crimes Crago is accused of committing in or near Lincoln Aug. 10 — a home invasion robbery during which the Jeep was stolen, the deaths of the Bailys, the theft of a Toyota Camry and the home invasion robbery of an acquaintance.
“We filed everything we thought we had sufficient evidence for,” Chief Deputy County Attorney Joe Kelly said.
Crago faces additional charges in Hall and Hamilton counties relating to a robbery and vehicle thefts he is accused of committing on his way to Lincoln.
Though the use of the electric chair is suspended, Kelly said that would not limit the prosecution’s options.
“We’re in the same situation that Omaha is,” he said. “Omaha has one, two and possibly three cases that are in the same mode. You have a death penalty on the statute. You just do not have a constitutionally approved method of carrying that out.
“We’re told by everyone from the governor’s office to the speaker’s office that there will be a method once the Legislature meets.”
Crago’s attorney, Jeffrey Pickens with the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, said he wouldn’t address the death penalty topic while the case is still in county court.
“At the appropriate time, I’ll raise the issue,” he said.
Lovell scheduled a docket call for Sept. 23, and Crago’s arraignment in Lancaster County District Court has not been scheduled. Crago remains in jail on $5 million bond.
Reach Cory Matteson at 473-7438 or cmatteson@journalstar.com.
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