GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — A former notary for separate Nebraska petitions to legalize and regulate medical cannabis in 2024 was found guilty Wednesday of all 24 criminal charges he faced.

Jacy C. Todd of York, 55, was convicted of 23 counts of “official misconduct,” each a Class II misdemeanor, and one count of making a false statement under oath, a Class I misdemeanor. Hall County Attorney Marty Klein and Nebraska Assistant Attorney Mike Jensen prosecuted the case.

The jury of six men from Hall County left for deliberations at 1:34 p.m. Wednesday. The group returned its verdict to Hall County Judge Alfred Corey just before 3 p.m.

Klein told the Nebraska Examiner after the verdict that the case is “vital to our democratic process” and that if election rules aren’t properly followed each step of the way, “then we’re no better than some of these other countries out there that have no confidence in their elections and no confidence in their system of governance.”

“I think we got the right result today,” Klein said.

A Class I misdemeanor has a maximum penalty of one year in prison, a $1,000 fine or both. Class II misdemeanors have a penalty of up to six months in jail, up to a $1,000 fine or both.

Todd’s sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 22. His attorney, Mark Porto, indicated the case won’t be over then.

“There are some grounds for appeal that we will certainly explore,” Porto said.

‘Professional Truth Teller’

Jensen, in closing arguments, had encouraged jurors to use their common sense and said Todd didn’t want to be held accountable as a public servant. He said he knew the rules and “disregarded” them “to meet his end and benefit.” Todd frequently lauds the possible benefits of medical cannabis.

“We rely upon that notary to be that professional truth teller, to be that governance official that we don’t have to question their credibility,” Jensen said.  

He continued: “The idea that he doesn’t know his duties as a notary public is a laughable defense. … Sometimes the facts just aren’t on your side.”

In a statement, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said his office is “very grateful” to the jury and called election integrity the “bedrock of our democracy.”

“The evidence at trial reflected a systematic scheme in which the law was routinely violated,” Hilgers said. “As we have said all along, the medical marijuana petition campaign was built on fraud and malfeasance and ultimately should never have been on the ballot in the first place.”

The Examiner reached out to the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana campaign for a response to Hilgers’ comment. It had no immediate response.

Klein credited hours of work by Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet and her office, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office and the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office in catching and investigating questionable behavior around the 2024 petition effort.

Klein said he is “completely confident” in Hall County elections because of Overstreet’s oversight, whose staff initially caught fraudulent behavior of a petition circulator, Michael K. Egbert of Grand Island, 67, whose petitions Todd notarized and made up the core of the allegations at trial.

“I feel confident that she’s going to catch these sorts of things, because she and her office staff were the ones who originally discovered, ‘Hey, there’s something wrong here,’” Klein said.

Criminal Allegations

The Hall County Attorney’s Office and Nebraska Attorney General’s Office had argued Egbert was never in front of Todd when Egbert signed his petition circulator’s affidavit between Jan. 29 and July 2 of 2024, on 23 different days.

Under state law, notarizations are valid only if they are completed in person and if the notary public can verify the signer’s identity, such as after repeated interactions, showing an ID or via third-party verification. Some notarizations can be done online, but not for ballot measures.

Egbert testified that he would always sign his petitions from his kitchen table and then deliver them to Todd’s business, Herban Pulse, a former cannabidiol, health and wellness shop in Grand Island. Egbert said he gave the petitions to a woman who he thought was Todd but later found out was Pam Todd, Todd’s wife. 

Egbert said he met Todd only once, on his “fourth or fifth” delivery of already filled out petitions.

The charge alleging that Todd lied under oath relates to an Oct. 17, 2024, deposition during a separate Lancaster County District Court case seeking to invalidate the medical cannabis petitions in the lead-up to the 2024 election. The judge sided with the campaign, and the case is now in the hands of the Nebraska Supreme Court.

During Todd’s video deposition, among many topics, he described how he conducted notarizations, the role and requirements of a notary and why medical cannabis is important to him as a former combat medic for the U.S. Army.

Jensen said statements from Todd that Egbert and all other circulators always appeared before him and that he always fulfilled his duties were lies.

‘Honest Mistakes Happen’

On two of the notarized dates, Feb. 26 and June 10 of 2024, Egbert was out of state. The defense had argued there was a possibility Egbert met Todd before leaving each time.

For the February date, Egbert was at a veterans retreat in Pittsburgh and later visited the Sept. 11, 2001, Flight 93 memorial, according to photos he took on the trip. In June, Egbert and his wife were visiting their eldest daughter in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Porto conceded that his client had made a couple mistakes in 2024, including listing a date for verifying signatures when a petition circulator was out of state. 

Porto said “honest mistakes” on a couple of petition pages, over the hundreds Todd notarized, was a “good percentage of accuracy.”

Porto said Todd knew his “core requirements” as a notary — such as verifying a signer’s identity in person and having them sign — but didn’t know it “technically ran afoul of the rules” for the notary to stamp and sign the petition to finish the notarial act after the circulator had left.

“We’re talking about a couple of errors over the course of hundreds, if not thousands, of documents that he notarized while he’s running the store, while he’s also notarizing documents for all these different people who are coming in,” Porto told the jury in closing arguments.

“Mistakes happen. Honest mistakes happen,” Porto continued. “Honest mistakes are not crimes.”

Egbert’s wife, DeEtta, and Greg Young, the boyfriend of Egbert’s eldest daughter, Ashley, said they delivered materials for Egbert, each handing them to a woman matching Pam Todd’s description. Young said he did not look in an envelope containing what he delivered.

Todd and Porto have described the testimony from Egbert’s family and Egbert as inaccurate.

Of alternative explanations from Porto and Todd, Klein told jurors the state had presented “credible” evidence, not “possible” evidence. Klein said the question isn’t what’s “possible” but what’s “reasonable.” 

“I would assert to you, Mr. Porto’s possibilities aren’t reasonable based on the evidence,” Klein told the jury.

‘His Magic Stamp’

Jensen said there was “no humanly way possible” for Todd and Egbert to be in the same location on Feb. 26.

“These things get dropped pre-signed and he [Todd] puts his magic stamp on it and just puts whatever date he thinks should be the right date,” Jensen said.

Asked on the witness stand Tuesday what happened, Todd said: “I can only speculate … but he signed in front of me every time.”

Egbert was a paid circulator for the medical cannabis campaign. He pleaded guilty Nov. 8, 2024, to a Class I misdemeanor of “attempting” to falsely swear to his circulator’s oath. He has admitted to using a phone book to add supposed signers to petitions. Prosecutors initially charged Egbert with a Class IV felony of falsely swearing to his circulator’s affidavit.

A plea agreement allowed Egbert to avoid jail, and he agreed to pay a $250 fine.

Egbert, both during the previous civil trial in Lancaster County and this week, acknowledged he has a neurological condition that impairs his memory. Porto said that fact, as well as Egbert’s earlier “demonstrated willingness to lie” should discredit his testimony against Todd.

Jensen and Klein said Egbert’s credibility should be weighed alongside corroborated testimony from his family, flight manifests, texts, photos and a credit card statement from Egbert’s wife.

Prosecutors had to prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt” for a conviction. The court offered the following definition to jurors.

“Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is one based on reason and common sense after careful and impartial consideration of all the evidence. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is proof so convincing that you would rely and act upon it without hesitation in the more serious and important transactions of life. However, proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean proof beyond all possible doubt.”

Appeal Is Expected

Porto said he feels Todd has “very solid grounds for appeal” on two notions, the first on the idea that notaries are not public servants for purposes of “official misconduct.” Corey initially agreed with a motion from Todd to that end, but Hall County District Court Judge Andrew Butler disagreed.

On Tuesday afternoon, after the state finished presenting evidence, Porto twice sought to get Corey to rule himself that prosecutors had not met their burden, thus skipping the jury. Porto’s reason was that notaries were not public servants, but Corey denied both motions, citing Butler’s ruling.

A second possible reason for appeal, Porto said, is an ongoing disagreement over a moment during Porto’s opening argument, when Porto said Todd could not be found guilty if the state did not first prove he “knowingly” violated his duties as a notary, and that Todd knew what his duties entailed.

Jensen interrupted Porto on Monday and said ignorance is not an acceptable defense. Corey agreed and repeated Jensen’s statement that ignorance is not a defense.

Upon further research, Porto said that is not always the case and felt the exchange possibly biased the jury against Todd’s defense. Porto sought a mistrial three times Tuesday over the comments, which Corey denied. 

“The reality is that happened right during the middle of when we were telling the jury what our defense was going to be,” Porto said. “I can’t help but think that the effect of that permeated throughout the rest of the trial in a way that could not have been good for us, for Mr. Todd.”

Corey on Wednesday morning accepted a request from Porto to instruct jurors that if knowledge is a key “element” of a crime — such as in this case — then the lack knowledge can be a defense.

Porto said that instruction was “helpful” but that someone “can’t unhear something that you heard, and sometimes that is grave enough.”

Klein said there are some “legal possibilities” that “probably need to be looked at, not necessarily anything that we did wrong, but there’s some questions as to the law.” Klein said he believes Butler got it right.

“I suspect he’ll appeal,” Klein said. “And I’m OK with that.”

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/02/25/notary-for-nebraska-medical-cannabis-petitions-found-guilty-of-all-24-criminal-charges/