The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s decision to deny convicted killer Aubrey Trail’s latest attempt to challenge his death sentence. In a 14-page ruling issued Friday, the high court agreed with the Saline County District Court’s conclusion that Trail’s motion for post-conviction relief was filed too late—missing the deadline by nearly two months.
Trail, now 58, was sentenced to death in 2021 for the gruesome 2017 murder and dismemberment of 23-year-old Sydney Loofe, a Lincoln store clerk. His legal team had argued that Trail was left without legal representation for a critical stretch of time and that his previous counsel had abandoned him. However, the court determined that Trail had legal counsel for over 200 days of the one-year filing window, and it was in fact Trail who had chosen to dismiss his attorney.
Justice William Cassel wrote that Trail’s legal team failed to present the argument about missed deadlines in a timely manner, only raising the issue an hour before filing an appeal to the Supreme Court—well after the district court had issued its ruling. This procedural misstep, Cassel said, left the state’s highest court without grounds to reconsider the district judge’s ruling.
Trail’s new attorneys expressed disappointment, saying the decision sets a troubling precedent that limits access to post-conviction relief for individuals who lack resources or legal support. They are weighing further legal action.
This ruling may mark the end of Trail’s yearslong legal battle, which began after Loofe disappeared on November 15, 2017. Her remains were later found scattered in trash bags across rural Clay County. Trail was found guilty in 2019, and his girlfriend and co-defendant Bailey Boswell received a life sentence.
Trail remains one of 11 inmates on Nebraska’s death row. The state has not carried out an execution since 2018, largely due to difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs.
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