WILBER, Neb. (AP) - A judge has pulled a state probation office in southeastern Nebraska from a high-profile murder case after a staff member commented on the defendant in a social media post.
The judge on Wednesday recused the office from preparing a presentencing report on 26-year-old Bailey Boswell, who was found guilty last month of first-degree murder and other counts in the 2017 dismemberment killing of 24-year-old Sydney Loofe of Lincoln, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
The decision was made after a probation office staff member posted on social media following Boswell’s conviction that there should be “full justice for Sydney. Dismember Bailey the same way Sydney was.”
That staff member is no longer employed by the probation office, officials said. A probation officer from another part of the state will prepare Boswell’s report. Such reports include a defendant’s background and criminal history and is used by the court to help determine sentencing. Boswell faces a possible death sentence.
Investigators say Boswell arranged a date with Loofe through the dating app Tinder for Nov. 15, 2017 - the same day officials say Loofe was killed by Boswell and codefendant Aubrey Trail. Loofe’s remains weren’t found until Dec. 4, when her dismembered body was found stuffed into garbage bags that had been dumped in a field in rural southern Nebraska.
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