GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — A former notary facing 24 criminal charges, all but one for allegedly improper notarizations on petitions seeking to legalize and regulate medical cannabis in 2024, took the witness stand on the second day of his criminal trial Tuesday.

State and local prosecutors accuse Jacy C. Todd of York, 55, of 23 Class II misdemeanors of “official misconduct” for allegedly notarizing petitions outside of the presence of a specific paid signature gatherer. In one instance in February 2024, the circulator in question, Michael K. Egbert of Grand Island, 67, was at a veterans retreat in Pittsburgh. Todd has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Egbert alleges he never signed his circulator’s oath while Todd was present, which Todd denies.

Todd told the jury he couldn’t explain why a couple of petitions had the wrong notarized date of Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, when Egbert was out of town. Todd suggested Egbert likely came in earlier but that he may have listed the wrong date.

“I can only speculate,” Todd said in Hall County Court. “But he signed in front of me every time.”

Todd said he would always witness a circulator sign their oath in person but would occasionally go back to stamp or sign a notarization to finish it later while juggling his store and dozens of petitions coming in. Todd said he was unaware in 2024 that the complete notarization needed to be done while the signer and notary were in the same place.

“Perhaps I got a date wrong with that, I have no idea how,” Todd said. “Like I said, I’m only human. I just know it was accidental.”

Todd said he had notarized hundreds of petition pages for two medical cannabis measures in 2024. He also notarized petitions in 2022, including for a couple of other ballot measures during those election cycles. His notary license expired after four years last July.

Circulator Also Takes Stand

Hall County Attorney Marty Klein and Nebraska Assistant Attorney General Mike Jensen presented their version of events Monday and Tuesday. They echo Egbert’s allegation that Todd never witnessed Egbert’s oath in person between Jan. 29 and July 2, with charges stemming from 23 dates of notarizations. One additional date was dropped before trial began.

Egbert was a paid circulator for the medical cannabis campaign. He pleaded guilty Nov. 8, 2024, to a Class I misdemeanor of “attempting” to falsify his circulator’s oath. He has admitted to using a phone book to add supposed signers to his petitions, forging signatures and making up dates of birth.

“I apologize for that deeply,” Egbert said Tuesday. “I apologized to my family and everyone else. It was a stupid thing to do, but I did it.”

Egbert initially faced a Class IV felony charge but entered a plea agreement. It allowed Egbert to avoid jail time, and he agreed to pay a $250 fine as part of the deal, which the trial revealed was offered Sept. 27, 2024, two weeks after prosecutors announced his charges at a news conference.

Pennsylvania And Iowa Trips

Prosecutors leaned into the Feb. 26, 2024, notarizations and others on June 10, 2024. On those dates, Egbert was not in Nebraska but had petition pages notarized by Todd. 

In both cases, Egbert and three members of his family testified, someone else brought the petitions to Todd’s former business, Herban Pulse, a cannabidiol, health and wellness shop in Grand Island.

Two Hall County sheriff’s deputies testified that they spoke with Todd and Egbert and found flight manifests, Egbert’s texts and photos and a credit card statement from Egbert’s wife that together confirmed Egbert was not in Nebraska on Feb. 26 or June 10 of 2024.

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

“A third party can see that document, and they can reasonably trust that the person who signed it is who it purports to be,” a state official who oversees the licensing of notaries said Monday.

Egbert’s wife, DeEtta, testified that she dropped petitions off for her husband while he was in Pennsylvania. Greg Young, the boyfriend of Egbert’s eldest daughter, Ashley, said he dropped off an “envelope” when DeEtta and Michael Egbert were visiting their middle daughter, Amanda, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in June 2024. Young said he did not look inside the envelope and wasn’t sure if they were petitions.

“I just handed them to the lady there at the front and left,” DeEtta Egbert said, adding that the woman she handed the petitions to didn’t ask questions. Young gave a similar version of events.

Defense’s Version Of Events

Mark Porto, Todd’s attorney, did not question the family members about the Pennsylvania weekend but asked DeEtta and Amanda Egbert whether they recalled when the family left for Cedar Rapids on June 10, 2024. Neither family member recalled.

Todd, when he took the stand, argued Egbert must have come in before the couple left June 10.

On a third date, March 11, Jensen and Klein presented text messages between Egbert and the campaign manager of the ballot measures indicating that Egbert, by that evening, had not dropped off his petitions. By the next day, around noon, Egbert confirmed he brought them in.

Todd, in his version of events, said that while his business normally closed around 7 p.m., he would often have circulators stop by on the weekends or after hours.

On the other 20 charges of official misconduct, prosecutors have encouraged jurors to extrapolate that Todd and Egbert did not complete the notarization together on the other dates.

Todd said he knew the campaign was being “watched” by the Nebraska AG’s Office for “political reasons,” referring to opposition from Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers to the legalization of medical cannabis. Todd said he felt the campaign needed to be extra careful and watch their “Ps and Qs and do everything by the book, and that’s what my intention was.”

In July 2025, Todd announced he would run for the 2026 GOP nomination for governor.

Earlier Deposition Remarks

Egbert on Tuesday said he met Todd on the fourth or fifth time of bringing in his petitions, most often on Mondays. Egbert said it was their only in-person interaction and that the two spoke for maybe three to five minutes. Todd also did not verify Egbert’s identity, Egbert said.

All other times, Egbert alleges, he spoke to Todd’s wife, Pam, whom Egbert assumed was the “Jacy Todd” he was supposed to meet. Todd said in an October 2024 deposition for a separate case related to alleged fraud on the medical cannabis petitions that Egbert had likely become the “most regular” and that the two would talk about a neurological condition affecting Egbert.

At that earlier trial in Lancaster County, and in the trial this week, Egbert acknowledged his condition impairs his memory. The district judge in Lancaster County largely disregarded Egbert’s testimony in her ruling upholding the validity of the medical cannabis petitions.

Todd faces a 24th charge of allegedly lying under oath during the multi-hour deposition in the earlier case. Among many topics, Todd described how he conducted notarizations, the role and requirements of a notary and why medical cannabis is important as a former combat medic for the U.S. Army.

Prosecutors did not explicitly say which false statement Todd is accused of making during the video deposition, more than an hour of which was played for the jury Tuesday.

“It’s well worth every single sweat and blood drop in my body to try to get this in the State of Nebraska, so that’s why I do this,” Todd said Oct. 17, 2024. He later told attorneys that day, “That passion would never get in the way of my integrity, no.”

Mistrial Motions Denied

Earlier Tuesday, Porto twice asked Hall County Judge Alfred Corey to declare a mistrial over a dispute Monday over whether the defense of ignorance of the law is allowed for Todd. Corey denied both motions.

Porto argues the official misconduct statute requires that Todd must have known that Egbert needed to appear before him every time, but didn’t at the time. On Monday, Porto said Todd made some “mistakes” but did not do so “knowingly.”

Jensen disagreed with Porto’s interpretation of the statute, and Corey agreed.

Porto reiterated Tuesday that, upon further research, the law was “squarely” on Todd’s side and that the fight in Porto’s opening statement could have “irrevocably tainted” the jury and impaired Todd’s right to a fair trial.

“I don’t think a curative instruction can unring that bell, because that was the effect of what was conveyed to them right toward the start of evidence,” Porto said. “I don’t think this is recoverable.”

Jensen argued that Porto’s interpretation would mean that for any government official to be held criminally accountable for breaking the law or a related rule or regulation, they must first know about said law or regulation. 

Jensen called that the “I’m just an idiot” defense.

“Every public official could come in and say, ‘I might have violated it, but I didn’t know that was the particular rule that I had to follow,’” Jensen said. “That’s an absurd reading of the statute.”

Jensen added later: “They’re trying for a mistrial because they don’t like how things are going, and there’s just been no error here committed by either party. I think the defense is doing a good job. At the end of the day, sometimes the facts just aren’t on your side.”

Porto said it would not be “absurd” to prove knowledge because the statute requires it. He said officials, such as the governor, could still face consequences, including political ones.

Corey reminded the jury that statements by attorneys are not evidence and that jurors should not speculate what would have been said around an objection. He said jurors also should not interpret any of his actions, rulings or vocal inflections as a reflection of how the case should go.

Jury Deliberations Begin Wednesday

The prosecution and defense both finished presenting evidence Tuesday, leaving each closing arguments Wednesday morning. The jury — seven men and one woman, two of whom are alternates — will deliberate after. At least one juror signed a ballot measure in recent years and three had never gotten notarizations, according to answers during jury selection on Monday.

The prosecution must prove guilt  “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jensen told prospective jurors that means there can be some “unreasonable doubt.”

“Like aliens landed down here and committed this crime and then flew off,” Jensen said Monday.

The trial resumes at 8 a.m. with final discussions about the judge’s instructions about jury deliberation. Closing arguments are scheduled 10 a.m. to noon. Jury deliberations are expected sometime after 1 p.m.

----

24 Criminal Charges

23 counts of “official misconduct” — “A public servant commits official misconduct if he knowingly violates any statute or lawfully adopted rule or regulation relating to his official duties.” Class II misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months’ imprisonment or a $1,000 fine, or both.

1 count of “false statement under oath” —  “A person who makes a false statement under oath or equivalent affirmation, or swears or affirms the truth of such a statement previously made, or makes a false statement in an unsworn declaration that meets the requirements of the Uniform Unsworn Foreign Declarations Act, when he or she does not believe the statement to be true, is guilty of a Class I misdemeanor if the falsification: (a) Occurs in an official proceeding; or (b) Is intended to mislead a public servant in performing his or her official function.” Class I misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison or a $1,000 fine, or both.

----

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/2026/02/24/accused-notary-for-nebraska-medical-cannabis-petitions-takes-stand-in-criminal-trial/