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Abatement Plea Denied for Falls City Murder Suspect

By John Nixon

10/20/2015

Desiderio Hernandez

(KLZA)-- A Falls City man charged in the shooting death of his cousin in August appeared in Richardson County District Court Tuesday for a hearing on a plea in abatement in regard to the charges against him.

34-year-old Desiderio Hernandez is charged with felony counts of murder in the first-degree, use of a weapon to commit a felony and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

In his plea in abatement challenge, Hernandez attorney, Matthew McDonald, challenges whether there was sufficient evidence to bind Hernandez over on counts of murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony.

The defense submitted that the element of “killing” was not proven in the case since the victim, Joseph Debella Jr. was alive on life support and only died after being taken off life support equipment at the families request, and that there was no evidence the Hernandez’s shot to the head killed Debella.

The plea in abatement was denied and Hernandez was scheduled for arraignment on November 3rd.

During a preliminary hearing in the case last month, a Nebraska State Patrol investigator testified that Hernandez admitted during an interview following his arrest that he shot Debella on August 4th with a gun Debella owned.

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