Witnesses testify in day two of trial over medical cannabis initiatives

A petition circulator advocating to legalize medical marijuana testified in court Thursday that the organizer of the campaign encouraged her to sign off on petitions she had not circulated.

The trial in Lancaster County District Court may determine if a pair of medical marijuana initiatives made it to the ballot legally.

Jennifer Henning, the petition circulator, testified that petition drive leader Christa Eggers “told” her over text message to sign petitions she had not gathered. That would be in violation of state law. During their questioning of Henning, the defense team hoped to show that Eggers never explicitly told her to sign them, but rather to just drop the documents off at Egger's house.

Earlier on Thursday, Jake Brennan, fraud investigator for the Nebraska Attorney General's Office, testified there were “anomalies” in how notaries in one county signed off some petitions. The petition drive opponent who filed the lawsuit, John Kuehn, argues those signatures should be enough to keep the issue off the ballot.

During cross-examination, the state’s investigator conceded simple human error was possible, rather than fraud.

The trial is scheduled to end Monday. Early votes have already been cast on the two initiatives, which are on the ballot for the Tuesday general election.