Case against Lincoln teen accused of aiding murder will stay in adult court

The criminal case against a 17-year-old accused of helping his girlfriend kill her father last year will stay in adult court, following a ruling by the Nebraska Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

Isaac Honigschmidt is charged with aiding and abetting the murder of 70-year-old Jesse Gilmer Jr. and had sought to have the case moved to juvenile court.

Gilmer’s daughter, 16-year-old Sallie Gilmer, is charged with first-degree murder and awaiting a hearing in October on her motion to do the same.

After a hearing in March in Honigschmidt’s case, Lancaster County District Judge Andrew Jacobsen kept the case in adult court, reasoning that while Honigschmidt could receive rehabilitative treatment in either a juvenile or an adult setting, “he will require treatment beyond his 19th birthday when the juvenile court’s jurisdiction would end,” according to the order.

Honigschmidt appealed.

His attorney, Sandy Pollack, argued that the judge’s findings weren’t supported by evidence or misstated the evidence and disregarded factors weighing in favor of transfer.

The state contended that the decision to retain jurisdiction in adult court was supported by appropriate evidence.

“Ultimately, we agree with the state,” Court of Appeals Judge David Arterburn wrote in Tuesday’s decision.

The order laid out the allegations, saying on the afternoon of Oct. 3, 2022, Sallie Gilmer, then 15 years old, called 911, saying she had returned home from school to her family’s apartment near South 40th Street and Nebraska Parkway to find her father unresponsive.

Police found her father, Jesse Gilmer Jr., dead with stab wounds to his forehead, chest, left shoulder and arm, one of which struck an artery.

Gilmer was a pastor, former Air Force veteran and volunteer at Lincoln Public Schools, according to his obituary.

Investigators talked to neighbors, one of whom said Jessie Gilmer didn’t like Honigschmidt, who was 16 at the time, and had been trying to keep the two apart. A classmate told them Honigschmidt regularly made comments about wanting him dead, according to the order.

Police came to believe that Honigschmidt had been working with Sallie Gilmer to develop a specific plan to kill her father in the week before his killing and took her to the apartment that day knowing she planned to stab him.

Gilmer allegedly had used a knife he had given her for her protection, which he allegedly disposed of after the stabbing.

Then, police say, Honigschmidt drove Gilmer back to Lincoln Southeast High School, where they both were students, for a short time, and they turned on their cellphones they’d turned off. They then went back to the apartment so Gilmer could “discover” her father dead.

According to Tuesday’s order, the investigation allegedly turned up evidence that the two talked about the $10,000 in life insurance money Gilmer would get if her father were to die, and Honigschmidt allegedly asked her to split it with him.

While Honigschmidt hasn’t previously been charged or convicted of any crime, which worked in his favor, he has had contacts with police over past allegations, including a threat to a teacher in 2019.

While there is no evidence that he directly committed a violent act, the appeals court panel agreed with the district court that “the evidence demonstrates that at minimum he planned and encouraged Sallie (allegedly) to commit the offense.”

Honigschmidt’s case now returns to the district court.