State v. Gach

── State v. Gach ── Court: Nebraska Court of Appeals Date: May 19, 2026 Category: General IN THE NEBRASKA COURT OF APPEALS MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT ON APPEAL (Memorandum Web Opinion) STATE V. GACH NOTICE: THIS OPINION IS NOT DESIGNATED FOR PERMANENT PUBLICATION AND MAY NOT BE CITED EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY NEB. CT. R. APP. P. § 2-102(E). STATE OF NEBRASKA, APPELLEE, V. DECH GACH, APPELLANT. Filed May 19, 2026. No. A-25-287. Appeal from the District Court for Douglas County: MARLON A. POLK, Judge. Affirmed. James K. McGough for appellant. Michael T. Hilgers, Attorney General, and Teryn Blessin for appellee. MOORE, PIRTLE, and FREEMAN, Judges. PIRTLE, Judge. INTRODUCTION After a jury trial in the district court for Douglas County, Dech Gach was convicted of criminal conspiracy, murder in the first degree, and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony. Gach appeals and assigns error to the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions and his sentences. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. BACKGROUND On March 12, 2021, police officers responded to a shooting. Upon arrival, officers found a male victim on the porch of a residence with apparent multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was identified as Larry Thompson. He was transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased. Thompson’s cause of death was the gunshot wounds in his left chest and left forearm. -1-  “ShotSpotter” notified police officers that eight shots were fired around Thompson’s apartment at 8 p.m. ShotSpotter uses acoustic sensors in geographical areas to detect gunfire and alert local officers to respond to those incidents. Law enforcement found seven shell casings near Thompson’s apartment. A firearm analyst determined that all seven shell casings came from the same firearm, a 9-mm Glock. Law enforcement reviewed video surveillance footage of the area and learned that the suspect vehicle involved in the homicide was a black Chevy Cruze. According to detectives, Christopher Trejo was known to drive the vehicle. Detectives contacted Trejo and his then-girlfriend, Marian Rodriguez, at Trejo’s home. Trejo’s vehicle was confiscated and searched. A .22 shell casing was found in the back pocket on the passenger side seat, and a black latex glove was found in the backseat. Trejo and Rodriguez were transported to the police station for interviews. Rodriguez said that on the day of the homicide, Trejo had texted her and told her that he was turning off his phone. She acknowledged that Trejo had come to her house the day before the interview and told her that the police were investigating a homicide. She also said Trejo asked her to tell the police that he was with her on the day of that homicide. Through a review of Trejo’s text messages, officers determined he communicated with Gach about guns and other gang related matters. The text messages also revealed that Trejo planned to pick up Gach in Sioux City, Iowa, on March 12, 2021. On March 30, 2021, officers interviewed Rumbek Augustino, who knew both Trejo and Gach. Augustino said that Trejo had driven him to Sioux City on the day of the homicide and had driven back to Omaha on the same date. Officers then went to Sioux City to interview Gach, and through a court order, obtained a DNA sample from Gach. On November 10, 2022, the State filed an information charging Gach with one count of criminal conspiracy, a Class II felony; one count of murder in the first degree, a Class IA felony; and one count of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, a Class IC felony. The charges arose from the incident that occurred