Guenzel said he believes proponents of the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana campaign were diligent and deeply concerned, but for some, “that zeal gave way to something worse.”

“That zeal gave way to, ‘The end justifies the means,’” ​​Guenzel said.

Assistant Attorney General Zach Viglianco defends Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen in the case court casesaid, unlike the campaign’s three ballot sponsors, that asking the judiciary to be the state’s “constitutional watchdog” is not unprecedented.

But what is unprecedented, Viglianco argued, is the “widespread, pervasive and serious, deliberate misconduct committed by individuals involved in the petition campaign.”

Kuehn’s attorneys and the Nebraska Attorney General’s office have joined forces challenge at least 80,000 signatures for the two campaigns, largely by extending perceived circulation fraud or notary crimes to every petition these individuals touched.

Evnen previously certified nearly 90,000 valid signatures on both petitions. They need a minimum of 86,499 valid signatures, which local county election officials must verify.

‘Potentially disastrous consequences’

Daniel Gutman, an attorney for the ballot sponsors, rejected those arguments, saying no court has said improper notarizations would discredit any other documents they came into contact with.

Viglianco and Assistant Attorneys General Justin Hall and Phoebe Lurz gave several examples incorrect notarial deedsincluding a circulator notarizing the signatures they have collected, notaries putting the wrong date on the notarial act, notaries signing a sheet that is missing the circulator’s oath, and sheets where a notary’s stamp has been crossed out and replaced.

Gutman said some of those were errors, while the AG’s office alleged fraud or malfeasance. Gutman said this argument could be extended to other notarized documents, such as wills, mortgages, purchase agreements and affidavits.

“The imagination does not have to wander far to understand the potentially disastrous consequences of the legal arguments in this case,” Gutman said.

Gutman said lawyers for Evnen and Kuehn assumed the worst but still couldn’t find enough signatures for the campaigns to fail. They found approximately 706 direct cases of alleged fraud or malfeasance in one petition, and 394 direct cases in the other.

Viglianco said these cases “cast an inescapable shadow of fraud on every signature the NMM campaign has submitted,” so it is impossible to say what is “real.”

The state’s most important witnesses

A paid petition distributor, Michael Egbert of Grand Island, testified that he used a phone book to forge signatures and fill in information for voters who did not sign the petitions.

Jennifer Henning of Omaha, another paid distributor, claimed that voting sponsor Crista Eggers, the campaign manager, told her to pick up petitions that she did not distribute, and that Henning later signed Seward’s signatures on Eggers’ behalf.

“That story, that whole story, is so compelling because it illustrates in one single story the intentional wrongdoing – the fraud, the malfeasance, the wrongful conduct – that exists in this case,” Viglianco said.

The AG’s office showed a text message between Henning and Eggers, in which Eggers told Henning, “As long as you just sign your petitions, I can feel free to notarize them.” I know you and that you are who you say you are.”

Gutman blasted Henning for having “absolutely no credibility” as she is currently on probation for two insurance fraud charges; previously filed fraudulent documents in multiple Nebraska courts; and was sanctioned by a Douglas County district judge in 2020.

Henning was ill when the trial began, but showed up on the second day, which Gutman said aroused suspicion.

“She went from allegedly having ulcerative lesions in her vocal cords — ‘I can’t talk,’ she emails the court — to having a very lively and very loud conversation with my colleague,” Gutman told Strong.

Viglianco asked why Henning, who must follow the law and talk to law enforcement as part of her probation and who strongly supports medical marijuana, would lie.

Henning testified that she was “terrified” about the sentence, Gutman said, arguing that when the DA’s office called, she told them “exactly what they wanted to hear.”

Connely, Eggers and three other notaries argued for a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while on the stand or during depositions, citing ongoing criminal investigations.

‘She rolled the dice’

Evnen’s lawyers also showed a text message between Eggers and Garrett Connely, a 22-year-old circulator and notary for the campaign, in which Eggers said, “There is no nice campaign anymore.”

“We no longer follow the rules,” Eggers responded. “And we just pay the consequences and hope it’s okay.”

Egbert, who has been charged with a crime, testified that he has a neurological condition that affects his memory. Egbert said local and state law enforcement officials promised him that if he told the truth, he would would have no impact on his criminal case in Hall County.

Hall County officials trained to care for the disabled picked up Egbert, Gutman said, but it was the AG’s office that expected the worst from everyone involved in the campaign.

Gutman said Egbert was used by Evnen’s attorneys “as a means to a political end and to ensure that no Nebraskan gets the opportunity to vote on medical cannabis.”

Viglianco said the case was not about “two bad apples” and that asking local officials to be “hypervigilant fraud and crime detectors” is too much to ask.

Jacy Todd of York, the notary charged in connection with Egbert’s admitted misconduct, has “vehemently” denied that he ever certified a petition while Egbert was away from him. Due to medical problems, Todd was unable to testify in person.

In another text, Eggers told a campaign volunteer that she could not add anything to the petition sheets, including zip codes, because it could invalidate the signatures.

Viglianco said the texts corroborated Egbert and Henning’s testimonies and that Eggers knew the campaign was breaking the rules.

“She rolled the dice. She made the choice to try her luck,” Viglianco said of Eggers. ‘She gambled. And she lost.”

Gutman and other lawyers for the voting sponsors have argued that Eggers’ texts are being taken out of context.

Todd and Egbert and the only people criminally charged in connection with the campaign, based on public court records.

‘Human error’

Viglianco asked broadly why the attorneys for the vote sponsors had not called state Sen. Anna Wishart or former state Sen. Adam Morfeld, the other two sponsors, as witnesses and why they had not shown training documents or evidence of training or outlined other communications . show respect for the ‘rules’.

“The simple explanation is that that evidence was not introduced because it does not exist,” Viglianco said. “Evidence of a rule-following, clean campaign was not introduced because that was not the campaign being run.”

Gutman read a transcript of the statement from Connely, who told the AG’s office that human error “is a part of life.”

When asked whether the state’s notarial exam shows that human error in notarizations is allowed, Connely said no, “but you would want to think more about your government than going after people for human error.”

“I think Garrett Connely speaks for tens of thousands of people who signed this petition, and perhaps for the electorate at large: why is our government so committed to undermining these initiatives?” Gutman told Strong. “Why does the government prosecute people civilly and criminally for human error?”

Strong ordered attorneys for Evnen and Kuehn to file post-trial briefs by Nov. 12. Voting sponsors must respond by November 15. Kuehn and Evnen can respond before November 18.

If Strong sides with Evnen and Kuehn, the election’s sponsors could be allowed to “cure” the disputed signatures or prove their legitimacy. If she sides with the sponsors, the case will end up at the district court level.

Regardless of who prevails, Strong and several attorneys have said the case will likely be appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Nebraska constitutional officials will meet on December 2 to certify Tuesday’s election results. Legal challenges may continue after that date.

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