State v. Betancourt-Garcia

Summary

The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the denial of postconviction relief on Betancourt-Garcia's layered ineffective-assistance claims concerning his alibi and misidentification defenses. It held that trial counsel reasonably chose not to present witnesses who could not place Betancourt in Texas at the time of the offenses and were reluctant to testify, and that the proposed prior statements would have been usable only for impeachment, not as substantive alibi evidence. The court also held that one additional claim had already resulted in resentencing and that the remaining claims were barred by the law-of-the-case doctrine.