No. ________ IN THE Supreme Court of the United States dNIKKO A. JENKINS, Petitioner, —v.— STATE OF NEBRASKA, Respondent. ON PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF NEBRASKA PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI Brian W. Stull David D. Cole Cassandra Stubbs Counsel of Record AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION UNION FOUNDATION 201 W. Main Street, Suite 402 915 15th Street, NW Durham, NC 27701 Washington, D.C. 20005 Amy A. Miller (212) 549-2500
[email protected] ACLU OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION Jennesa Calvo-Friedman 134 S. 13th St. #1010 AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES Lincoln, NE 68508 UNION FOUNDATION Thomas C. Riley 125 Broad Street New York, NY 10004 DOUGLAS COUNTY PUBLIC DEFENDER 1819 Farnam Street H05 Civic Center Omaha, NE 68183 **CAPITAL CASE** QUESTIONS PRESENTED Severely mentally ill since the age of eight, Nikko Jenkins was imprisoned in Nebraska for armed robbery at age seventeen. He was held in solitary confinement for nearly five years—including for more than two years immediately preceding his release. He exhibited severe mental illness and self- mutilation in solitary confinement, and repeatedly sought assistance, including requests that he be civilly committed as a danger to others rather than released. The State ignored his pleas, and released him directly from solitary confinement to the community, without any assistance or transition. Within three weeks of release, he killed four people. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death, under a Nebraska law that authorizes a panel of judges, rather than a jury, to make factual findings necessary to impose a sentence of death.