SALINE COUNTY, Nebraska - A hearing to determine if convicted killer Aubrey Trail will spend the rest of his life in prison or receive the death penalty is set. A three judge panel will make that decision on June 23rd through the 26th in Saline County.
Trail killed Sydney Loofe of Lincoln in 2017.
6 News reports according to Nebraska law, after a defendant has been found guilty of first-degree murder, aggravating circumstances must be taken into consideration. The death penalty cannot be used if the panel does not find one or more circumstances exist. The judges have a lot to consider.
Aggravating circumstances include:
(a) The offender was previously convicted of another murder or a crime involving the use or threat of violence to the person, or has a substantial prior history of serious assaultive or terrorizing criminal activity;
(b) The murder was committed in an effort to conceal the commission of a crime, or to conceal the identity of the perpetrator of such crime;
(c) The murder was committed for hire, or for pecuniary gain, or the defendant hired another to commit the murder for the defendant;
(d) The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, cruel, or manifested exceptional depravity by ordinary standards of morality and intelligence;
(e) At the time the murder was committed, the offender also committed another murder;
(f) The offender knowingly created a great risk of death to at least several persons;
(g) The victim was a public servant having lawful custody of the offender or another in the lawful performance of his or her official duties and the offender knew or should have known that the victim was a public servant performing his or her official duties;
(h) The murder was committed knowingly to disrupt or hinder the lawful exercise of any governmental function or the enforcement of the laws; or
(i) The victim was a law enforcement officer engaged in the lawful performance of his or her official duties as a law enforcement officer and the offender knew or reasonably should have known that the victim was a law enforcement officer.
Bailey Boswell is also charged with 1st degree murder in Loofe's death and her trial is set for March.
Photo courtesy of 6 News.