Jacy Todd Trial closing arguments complete; jury begins deliberations

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GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - Closing arguments in the trial of a York notary public charged with improperly signing off on medical cannabis petitions concluded just after noon, with the jury set to begin deliberations after lunch.

Jacy Todd, 54, of York, faces 23 counts of official misconduct and one count of making a false statement under oath related to notarizing medical marijuana petitions in 2024.

Todd is accused of improperly notarizing petitions for the medical marijuana ballot initiative. The prosecution contends that petition circulator Michael Egbert was not present when Todd notarized some of the petitions, despite Todd’s deposition statement that he required circulators to be present.

Closing Arguments

State attorney Mike Jensen argued that his job is to search for the truth and hold people accountable for their actions.

Jensen emphasized that knowledge is not a good defense in this case because Todd provided proper notarization instructions in his 2024 deposition, the same instructions given by Tracy Overstreet and David Wilson during the trial.

Jensen told the jury to look at motives through actions. He argued that Todd used his position as a notary to further his “blood, sweat, and tears efforts” to legalize medical cannabis.

The first 23 charges Todd faces are for official misconduct, with misconduct dates ranging between January through July of 2024. Count 24 addresses making a false statement under oath.

Jensen argued that Todd lied in his 2024 deposition when he said he had never notarized petitions without the circulator present. Jensen suggested the defense now wants to paint all witnesses as untruthful.

Jensen asked the jury to not “check their common sense at the door” and provided instructions on how to evaluate witness credibility. He reviewed key definitions from the jury instructions with the panel.

Defense attorney Mark T. Porto argued that Todd only made “innocent mistakes,” and therefore should be found not guilty on all counts.

Porto sought to paint Michael Egbert as the one who lied and cannot be trusted. He highlighted Egbert’s admission of falsifying signatures and noted that Egbert lied to Deputy Fowler when he came to his residence.

Porto argued that Egbert’s story “makes no sense.” He noted that Egbert told Deputy Fowler he knew notary rules from life experience, yet Egbert went on to forge documents, resulting in charges of false swearing to a circulator’s affidavit.

Porto emphasized that Egbert was caught “red-handed” forging documents, which constituted a felony. However, Porto noted that Egbert pled down to attempted false swearing to a circulator’s affidavit and paid only a fine, never becoming a felon.

Porto questioned why Todd would deliberately violate notarization rules if he was so motivated to get medical cannabis on the ballot through proper means. He pointed to text messages between Michael and Pam Todd showing that Jacy Todd “wanted to do things the right way.”

Porto also referenced a text message in which Michael called Jacy Todd “very nice,” suggesting Egbert knew Todd and would not have deliberately worked against him.

Porto argued that if improper notarization was a systemic issue, there would have been problems beyond Michael Egbert’s petitions.

Porto presented two theories about how petitions were dated while Egbert was out of state:

For the Pennsylvania trip, the latest signature on a petition related to that trip was dated two days before Egbert left. Porto suggested Egbert could have dropped off signatures before traveling, and Todd simply made a mistake in dating the notarized petitions.
The same explanation could apply to the Iowa trip in June.

If these are honest mistakes, Porto argued, the verdict must be not guilty.

Porto contended that Jacy knew “the heart and the essence of being a notary in Nebraska.” He challenged the sufficiency of notary training and testing, calling the open-book exam with an 85% passing requirement insufficient.

Porto called the case “inspiring” because of Jacy Todd’s dedication to his beliefs in medical cannabis legalization.

Hall County Attorney Marty Klein offered brief rebuttal to the defense’s closing argument.

Klein noted that when Pam Todd texted that she would be in the store till 7, she did not say Jacy would be there. This undermines the defense’s suggestion that text messages prove Jacy was uninvolved.

Klein observed that Michael’s description of Jacy Todd as “very nice” was notable because men generally do not call each other that—suggesting a more casual or less informed interaction.

Klein argued that Jacy Todd was the one who was determined to do “what it took” to make sure medical cannabis got on the ballot, implying Todd’s true motivation was the legalization effort, not following proper notarization procedures.

The jury is comprised of seven men and one woman.