Judge rejects death penalty challenge by man accused in Nebraska bowling alley slayings

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A Nebraska judge on Monday rejected a challenge to the state’s death penalty from a man facing two counts of first-degree murder.

Judge James Kube said many of Alias Reed’s arguments have already been dismissed by the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Reed, 26, is accused of shooting two men at a bowling alley in Bloomfield — a town of about 1,000 near the South Dakota border — last February.

SEE ALSO: Suspect in Nebraska bowling alley slayings deemed not mentally competent for trial

Court documents say he shot Curtis Strom, 77, and William Reffett, 49, in the head during a robbery.

The Nebraska State Patrol said Reed’s girlfriend, Kaylynn Sweazy, helped him dispose of the shotgun used in the killings.

Sweazy, 28, is charged with evidence tampering and accessory to a felony.

SEE ALSO: Woman pleads not guilty to evidence tampering in slayings at Nebraska bowling alley

In November, Reed’s attorney filed a motion to quash asking Kube to declare parts of Nebraska’s death penalty law unconstitutional.

He raised several arguments, including that the decision of when to seek the death penalty is arbitrary and that juries are not involved enough in imposing death sentences.

Kube was not persuaded, writing that the state’s high court has already considered those challenges and rejected them.

SEE ALSO: Man charged in killings at Nebraska bowling alley will undergo competency evaluation

The motion also argued that the death penalty “violates the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.”

But Kube said that is up to the Legislature, not him, to decide.

“A trial court is bound by legal precedent and is prohibited from taking on the role of a policymaker,” he wrote.

Kube ordered Reed to be arraigned in Knox County District Court on Jan. 28, the same day as Sweazy’s next hearing.

SEE ALSO: No bond for man accused in killings at rural Nebraska bowling alley