Twenty-twenty has been a year full of things that are far
from normal and for one Central Nebraska man the absurdities’ of 2020 have been
coming up every day.
Andy Alber admits to being a bit surprised and taken back
when at his Jury trial last July 10th the prosecuting attorney Sara
Bockstadter said to him “Mr. Alber, just sitting there you appear to be quite
muscular, do you agree? If someone were
to tell you that you are muscular would you take pride in that?” .
“well, to each his own,” Alber responded to Bockstadter., but he was thinking, Noooo.. Thinking back on the trial he said "No! that's a hypothetical I never thought of, but I was trying to
figure out where she was going with a question like that. I'm thinking, here I am a fifty year old, three fingered, overweight truck driver, who gets almost no exercise
sitting behind the steering wheel 12 hours a day".
And then she continued “ On November 1st you used
your strength to hit Scott Kort didn’t you?’
“Oh! I thought” Alber
continues “Is she saying that I am so much more muscular than Scott Kort that
I shouldn’t have used my superior strength against him?. That because he is fluffy and I am muscular he can threaten me and I have to wait until he hits me first.?”
Alber asked “What do
you mean by that?” and Bockstadter replied
“You punched Scott Kort straight in the face didn’t you?
“Yes”. Alber answered “You knocked him out on your first punch didn’t you?” Bockstadter asked.
Alber answered “I don’t know”.
Bockstadter said “how is it that you felt a knockout punch to
the face was a necessary mode to protect yourself?’
Alber responded “I knew a hug wasn’t gonna do it.’
“Could it be you lost your temper” Bockstadter asked.
“No”
Bockstadter wasn’t done “Have you lost your temper on other
occasions?” She asked.
“Well that is kind of a silly question” Alber answered “What
occasion would you like to refer to?.”
“Well, the answer is yes or no!.”
“yes” Alber answered letting everyone know that he was just
like every other person in the court room having on some occasion at some time
lost his temper.
One day he needed to work on keeping his temper
in check was the day he was served with papers letting him know that
the county attorney had decided to prosecute him for assaulting Scott Kort in
the Blue Hill Tavern in the late evening of November 1st. That was a complete surprise to him because when he had been interviewed by Officer Mike Gobel some time before Gobel had indicated to him that according to all the testimony he had gathered up to that point it "appeared Kort was asking for a fight". At that time Alber thought the matter was closed.
Alber went to the tavern the night of
November 1st with members of a wedding party after a rehearsal dinner
to relax over a drink before going home.
He certainly didn’t expect to run into Scott Kort there as it was common
knowledge that Scott Kort was not allowed to be there. Both the Bar tender Heather Long and Deputy
Gobel testified at the trial that they were aware that Kort had been banned
from the bar for nearly a decade because of the problems he had caused there in
the past. But Kort said he got special
permission from the bar owner, Corey Hallet. to come in with friends after a
funeral, he arrived before noon. Alber
arrived close to 11 pm. Kort admitted he
had been in the bar drinking for 11 to 12 hours before the wedding party
entered the bar. He admitted he was
intoxicated. Others that had come to the bar after the funeral had long since left the Bar.
Witnesses called by the state besides Scott Kort were the
investigating officer, Deputy Michael Gobel who has been in law enforcement for
about two years and the bartender Heather Long.
Neither saw the interaction between Alber & Kort. Gobel said that he was well acquainted with
Scott Kort but had never met Alber until he was investigating this
incident.
Gobel said that when he interviewed Scott Kort several days after the incident he was told by
Kort that Andy Alber had blindsided him and hit him when he wasn’t looking for
no apparent reason. (false reporting) The night of the incident Kort refused to talk to Gobel and refused medical treatment from the EMT's who responded to Heather Long's 911 call. He left the bar in the company of a family member. Kort did admit in his testimony that he had said he was the toughest M-Fer in seven counties". He denied ever threatening to kick any ones ass as several witnesses reported. Witnesses for the
defense had a very different story.
Heather Long, the bartender, called by the prosecution, was in
California and because of her location and the Covid Crisis her testimony was
received over the internet. This was a first for a trial in Webster county
to use that kind of technology. There
were some technical difficulties but the testimony was received.
The first witnesses for the defense were a husband and wife
who were in Quarantine. Becky and Ryan Kort
testified on zoom from their home in Blue Hill They testified that they had been in the bar
for a couple of hours before Alber arrived and during that time had witnessed Kort’s
behavior. They said that Kort had
threatened to “Kick Ryan’s Ass” (a terroristic threat) and
threatened to sexually assault Becky, as well as groped her, (which is sexual
assault).
Mark and Karen Kumke testified that they observed Kort’s
behavior, Karen testified that Scott had made very inappropriate remarks to
her, remarks that were so inappropriate that she was very uncomfortable
repeating them in the court room in front of the judge and jury.(Sexual harassment,?) Mark Kumke testified that he heard Andy say
to Kort" I don’t want this crap tonight,
I am here with my family, leave me alone. Get away from me, I can’t stand this" and
moved away from Kort.
Kevin Williams testified that he saw Scott getting into
Alber’s “personal space” He said Kort
moved to within six inches of Alber’s face.
Williams said he was not close enough to hear the conversation between
the two. He said he never saw the punch
that put Kort on the floor because he wasn’t looking in that direction at the exact minute;
he just looked over at the sound and saw Kort on the floor.
Before calling Andy Alber as his last witness defense attorney
Richard Caulkins called Vicky Alber, Andy's wife to the stand. She testified as to hearing Scott Kort tell
Andy he was going to kick his ass and hearing Andy respond that he didn’t have
time to deal with him, he told him to just go away and leave him alone.
Caulkins presented as evidence pictures that Alber had taken
in the bar after the incident, the pictures indicated where Andy was sitting
with his back to the wall and the bar on one side of him and the ATM machine on
the other. Sitting in that position it
was obvious that there was only one way to go, straight ahead, and it was from
that direction that was where Scott Kort stood.
Caulkins presented as evidence several protection orders
that Alber had received against Kort in the past. The prosecution objected saying it wasn’t relevant
to the case at hand, the defense noted that it went to prove state of mind,
saying that it was reasonable for Alber to believe Kort would attack him as he
had done numerous times in the past. The objection was over ruled, however the judge would not allow the defense to present any details of the pervious assaults.
Alber testified as to how Scott Kort stood in front of him
posing and flexing his muscles and then told Alber “He told me he was the
toughest M..Fer in seven counties, that
he was going to whip my ass and that I was a worthless piece of shit.”
At that point Alber said he believed Kort and took defensive
action and struck him in the face and Kort fell on the floor. Alber said that at that point he believed it was hit or be hit.
There could certainly be some questions, considering all the
testimony, if Kort fell because of the punch to the face or because of having
been drinking for 12 hours.
It took less than seven minutes for the Jury to retire to
the Jury room, deliberate, and return with the not guilty
verdict.
This trial, as any trial, was a costly procedure. Normally pools of about 60 jurors are called
to report. Only 6 of those will finally
be selected to hear the case. This time
all jurors over 65 were eliminated for health reasons as they are among a high
risk group in the covid pandemic. Some were eliminated because they were related
to Kort or Alber. More were
eliminated to get the pool down to about 30 people to decrease the number to show up at the court house together. When it got down to final six who would hear
the case the remaining jurors were allowed to go home.