COVID Delays Aubrey Trail Death Sentence Hearing

One of Aubrey Trail’s defense attorneys came down with the coronavirus. Monday the judge in the case delayed the hearing that would determine if the convicted murderer should receive the death penalty. Trial and his girlfriend Bailey Boswell were convicted in the murder of Lincoln resident Sydney Loofe in 2017.

Trail will wait until spring of next year before he finds out if the State of Nebraska will administer the death penalty.

Joe Murray and his son Ben served as Aubrey Trail’s attorneys from the start. They informed the court on Monday Joe Murray tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend.

The timing turned out to be an odd coincidence. Two days earlier Trial filed a motion to have his death sentence hearing scheduled delayed because of complications brought on by the pandemic. It had been on the calendar for next week.

In a motion to delay the court hearing filed with the Saline District Court Judge Vicky Johnson, the Murrays cited disruptions brought on by the pandemic impaired their ability to “take on the extraordinary responsibility of representing a person whose life is at stake.” In addition, the legal team argues the sentencing hearing before a three-judge panel could threaten the health of all involved, as COVID-19 infections remain historically high.

Those arguments took a back seat to the elder Murray’s positive diagnosis.

Judge Johnson presided over a telephone conference Monday morning. Attorney Ben Murray told NET News the judge granted the motion to delay and is considering dates in March to reschedule the hearing.

Three judges will consider whether the circumstances of the murder of 24-year-old Sydney Loofe met the conditions for carrying out a sentence of death in Nebraska.