Jeremy Sheets

Overview

Jeremy Sheets was sentenced to death on September 26, 1997. His conviction was overturned in 2000. He was released on June 13, 2001.

People

• Jeremy Sheets — defendant; sentenced to death and later released after his conviction was overturned.
• Adam Barnett — key witness against Sheets; Barnett was Sheets’s best friend, gave a taped confession, and committed suicide in jail.
• Kenyatta Bush — victim; a 17-year-old black high-school student who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered.

Timeline

• September 23, 1992 — Kenyatta Bush was kidnapped outside Omaha North High School on her way to class; her throat was slashed and her body was dumped in a wooded area north of Omaha.
• September 26, 1997 — Jeremy Sheets was sentenced to death.
• 2000 — The Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a tape recording made by an alleged accomplice who committed suicide prior to trial was “highly suspect,” “inherently unreliable,” and inadmissible without the opportunity for Sheets to cross-examine.
• May 14, 2001 — The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the state court’s decision.
• June 13, 2001 — Jeremy Sheets was released after prosecutors decided not to retry his case.

Background

Adam Barnett told police that he and Jeremy Sheets, both white men, had been angry about white women dating black men. Barnett said that to get even, they kidnapped and raped a black high-school student. Barnett also told police that Sheets stabbed her to death. Barnett committed suicide in jail.

In Sheets’s 1997 trial, Sheets testified and denied that he hated blacks or had any involvement in the 1992 killing of Kenyatta Bush. He said:

“I've never killed anybody,” he said.

The Nebraska Supreme Court reversed Sheets’s conviction because Sheets’s lawyer had not been able to cross-examine the dead Barnett. Without the taped statement, prosecutors said they did not have enough other evidence to proceed with another trial.

The offence

Kenyatta Bush was kidnapped outside Omaha North High School on her way to class on September 23, 1992. Her throat was slashed, and her body was dumped in a wooded area north of Omaha. Barnett told police that he and Sheets, after “dropping acid,” decided to rape a black woman to get revenge on black men who date white women. Barnett said Sheets stabbed Bush after she lost consciousness.

Investigation

Barnett gave police statements that implicated Jeremy Sheets. Barnett’s taped statement was the key evidence used against Sheets at trial. The taped statement was connected to a plea bargain in which Barnett:

• avoided a charge of first degree murder,
• did not have an additional weapons charge filed, and
• received a commitment for his safety while incarcerated.

The state prosecutor argued that Barnett’s statement to police was given voluntarily and in the presence of his attorney. The prosecutor also said Barnett knew details of Bush’s death that only the killers would know, including the condition and location of Bush’s body and the exact cause of death.

Arrest

No arrest details were provided in the source.

Trial

Jeremy Sheets was sentenced to death on the basis of Barnett’s taped confession and Sheets’s own testimony, which the jury found unbelievable.

In 1997, Sheets took the witness stand and denied involvement in the killing of Kenyatta Bush and denied hatred of blacks.

Sentencing

Appeals

The Nebraska Supreme Court reversed Sheets’s conviction in 2000. The court ruled that a tape recording made by an alleged accomplice who committed suicide prior to trial was inadmissible without the opportunity for Sheets to cross-examine. The court described the taped evidence as “highly suspect,” “inherently unreliable,” and hence inadmissible.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case, meaning the state decision overturning Sheets’s conviction stood. On May 14, 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal.

Outcome

After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, prosecutors dropped the charges against Jeremy Sheets. Prosecutors then decided not to retry his case.

Aftermath

On June 13, 2001, Jeremy Sheets was released from prison. He became the first person released from Nebraska’s death row in 88 years. His release came after the Nebraska Supreme Court threw out a taped statement used to convict Sheets in the murder of 17-year-old Kenyatta Bush, and after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the state’s appeal.

Douglas County Attorney Jim Jansen, who prosecuted the case against Sheets, said:

“It's painful to have to do this. I'm convinced we tried and convicted the appropriate person,”

Prison and court records did not indicate what happened to Sheets after his release. Sheets previously told news reporters that he planned to spend some time with his parents in Colorado.

During his three years on death row, Sheets appeared on billboards and in magazines worldwide as part of an advertising campaign against the death penalty by Italian fashion company Benetton.

Sheets’s release left 10 people on Nebraska’s death row.