AG appeals the dismissal of the case against the former director of the history of Nebraska

Lincoln, Neb. (Nebraska examiner) – As promised, the Nebraska Attorney General’s office appealed the dismissal of his case claiming that former history director Nebraska illegally transferred funds donated to the agency.

A formal appeal was presented at the end of last week and was accepted by the Nebraska Appeals Court on Monday.

In December, the Lancaster County District Judge, Susan Strong, dismissed the theft of serious crime for deception against former director Trevor Jones. She ruled that the prosecutors of the AG office had violated Jones’s right to a rapid trial.

Fast test arguments

The defense lawyer of Jones, Mallory Hughes, had asked the dismissal, maintaining that prosecutors had not requested a trial date within the six months allowed. She argued that Jones should have been tried before September 12, six months, less exclusions, after the case had been limited to the Lancaster County District Court.

In his 12 -page ruling, strong rejected arguments from the office of the attorney general that the rapid trial clock had been “arrested” when the former defense lawyer of Jones, John Ball, asked to withdraw from the case a year ago, and because his formal request had not been approved by the court.

The Appeals Court ordered the AG office to provide written arguments about why the Prosecutor’s Office should be restored before May 12.

Jones, 52, resigned from the director of $ 164,800 per year in 2022, shortly before a critical state audit that questioned its handling of $ 270,000 in donations from the foundation of the historical society of the state of Nebraska to cover the financial losses of the agency related to the Pandemic COVID-19.

Fundamentals of controversy

Instead of depositing those funds with the Treasurer office, as legally required, Jones channeled the money in a new base that Jones had established to replace the foundation of the historical society of the state of Nebraska, with whom he had disagreement. Money was never used to cover Covid losses.

Jones had declared himself innocent of the position of serious crime, which entails a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

It was a controversial figure as director of the History Agency, gaining praise for leading to a greater digitalization of historical documents, but also gaining contempt for some employees for implementing a hard hand management system and has been for a long time. The agency has been plagued by a great rotation of the staff since then.

Jones renamed the agency as “Nebraska History”, a movement terminated by Governor Jim Pillen, who restored the historical title of the agency, the “historical society of the state of Nebraska”.

Pillen recently appointed Daryl Bohac, a former general assistant of the Nebraska National Guard, to direct the agency. The company had operated under internal directors for more than two years after the departure of Jones.

Due to the action of the legislature, a code agency was made last summer under the control of the governor. That step ended more than a century of being an independent entity governed by a meeting of trustees.

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