NELSON, Neb. (KSNB) – Three days after he was convicted of killing the mother of his child, a Superior man asked for a new trial.
A Nuckolls County jury on Monday convicted 31-year-old Sebastian Dunbar of first-degree murder in the 2023 death of 35-year-old Molly Gruber. The verdict came after a week-long trial. He was also convicted of use of a firearm to commit a felony, assault by strangulation and negligent child abuse without serious bodily injury.
On Thursday, Dunbar’s attorney, Benjamin Murray, asked for a new trial. In the court filing, he wrote that the Nebraska Attorney General’s office notified him the day after the trial that they had gained access to Molly Gruber’s cell phone. State prosecutors had the phone since Dec. 2023, when Gruber was killed.
Murray wrote that the AG’s office had reportedly been unable to access Gruber’s phone until sometime on or about June 30, the day that the Nuckolls County jury convicted Dunbar for Gruber’s murder.
Court documents Friday did not list a hearing date for Murray’s motion on Dunbar’s behalf. There was also no sentencing date scheduled for Dunbar’s June 30 murder conviction.
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