At an April hearing of the Nebraska Legislature's investigative committee on prisons, Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash asked the state Corrections director what others may well be wondering a year after a deadly, costly riot at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.
"Regarding the criminal investigation, do you have any idea when there might be some finality to that?" the Lincoln lawmaker asked.
Director Scott Frakes answered with a single word: no.
While prison officials have said more than 400 inmates were involved in the uprising that left Shon Collins and Donald Peacock dead and several inmates and employees injured, to date, just five inmates face charges for assaulting officers and making threats.
John Zalme, 69, Roger Weikle, 59, and Frederick Gooch, 29, are accused of assault by a confined person. Ian Yelton, 23, is accused of the first-degree assault of inmate Cory Bewley, and William T. Harris, 22, is accused of making terroristic threats against a corrections employee.
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Weikle, Zalme and Yelton are set for trial in June. Trials for Gooch and Harris aren't yet set.Â
But no one has been charged with arson or the killings.
A grand jury met in Johnson County in mid-April and determined the deaths to be homicides but cleared state prison officials of any wrongdoing. The grand jury's work did not result in a request to prosecute anyone for the deaths.
On April 18 at the Capitol, Coash told Frakes it seems like a year "is a pretty good timeline in which we’d be starting to hear something soon."
Frakes said he understood, "but they want to be sure they can successfully prosecute the people that are responsible."
The Journal Star asked the Nebraska Attorney General's office about the investigation. Here's the exchange with spokeswoman Suzanne Gage that followed.
Q: Has the Attorney General's office been meeting regularly with the State Patrol and/or other agencies investigating this or getting updates?
A: The Attorney General's Office, the Johnson County Attorney's Office, the Nebraska State Patrol, the State Fire Marshal's Office and the Investigative Division of the Department of Corrections have been meeting regularly since last May and will continue to do so until all identifiable inmates who committed crimes during the riot are brought to justice.
Q: Based on the information you have right now, do you anticipate filing additional charges against others – particularly for arson, criminal mischief, the situation with a female employee being trapped in a gym office, or the killings?
A: As of right now, the state anticipates that in the future additional charges will be filed against inmates involved in setting fires during the riot and has already filed a charge against William Harris for a situation involving a female employee.
As far as the deaths of Mr. Peacock and Mr. Collins, the investigation into their murders are ongoing and will continue until the perpetrator or perpetrators is brought to justice. As a result, the state is hopeful that it will be able to file charges against the individual or individuals responsible for their deaths.
Q: Has the prison handled some of this internally through disciplinary actions and lost good-time rather than with criminal charges? Who decides?
A: Disciplinary action decisions made by the Correctional Facility are made independently and are separate from the criminal investigation. Criminal charges will be decided by the state. Those decisions have not and will not be impacted by any disciplinary action decisions made by the facility.
Q: Does it complicate matters for prosecutors and investigators that the crimes happened in prison?
A: Any complications of the investigation and prosecution stem from the size of the crime scene, the number of crimes that occurred at the same time and the number of inmates that committed these crimes.
Q: Particularly in cases like this, is it difficult to get inmates to talk when they may fear retaliation from other inmates or being the next on a hit list? Has that been a factor in bringing Shon Collins' and Donald Peacock's killer or killers to justice?
A: It is inappropriate for us to comment on any specific aspect of the investigation. Each murder investigation, or criminal investigation for that matter, whether committed on the street or in a correctional facility, poses unique challenges. This case is no different and requires the same diligence, persistence and investigative skill used to solve every unsolved crime.
Q: Does that account for why the investigation hasn't moved more quickly?
A: The investigators assigned to this case have conducted their work with the same effort, speed, professionalism and diligence exhibited in every murder case with which our office becomes involved.
Like every unsolved crime and murder occurring in this state, this investigation will remain open and continue until the time when a jury renders a guilty verdict against the person or persons who were criminally culpable for the deaths of Mr. Peacock and Mr. Collins.
Q: Should family members of inmates at TSCI be concerned that the killers aren't yet known and are still among the other inmates?
A: Investigators and prosecutors are aware of the concerns that family have for their family members that are inmates at TSCI. All involved in the investigation of this case are committed to bringing this matter to a successful resolution and to seeing that justice is done.