Judgments for fines and costs in criminal cases shall be a lien upon all the property of the defendant within the county from the time of filing the case by the clerk of the proper court, and judgments upon forfeited recognizance shall be a like lien from the time of forfeiture. No property of any convict shall be exempt from execution issued upon any such judgment as set out in this section against such convict except in cases when the convict is sentenced to a Department of Correctional Services adult correctional facility for a period of more than two years or to suffer death, in which cases there shall be the same exemptions as at the time may be provided by law for civil cases. The lien on real estate of any such judgment for costs shall terminate as provided in section 25-1716.

Source:G.S.1873, c. 58, § 524, p. 837; R.S.1913, § 9194; C.S.1922, § 10201; C.S.1929, § 29-2407; R.S.1943, § 29-2407; Laws 1974, LB 666, § 2; Laws 1993, LB 31, § 11; Laws 2015, LB268, § 21; Referendum 2016, No. 426; Laws 2018, LB193, § 60.

Annotations

Where convict is sentenced to penitentiary for more than two years, he has same exemptions as provided by law in civil cases. Canada v. State, 148 Neb. 115, 26 N.W.2d 509 (1947).

Judgment for fine and costs, where sentence is less than two years in the penitentiary, is lien on homestead of convict. Mancuso v. State, 123 Neb. 204, 242 N.W. 430 (1932).

Lien attaches to real estate owned in county at time of docketing cause, and statute of limitations runs against assignee of such judgment from date of assignment. Predohl v. O'Sullivan, 59 Neb. 311, 80 N.W. 903 (1899).

Although a judgment for costs in a criminal case is a lien upon a defendant's property, Nebraska statutes do not specifically authorize a setoff of costs owed to the court against proceeds of the defendant's bond. State v. Zamarron, 19 Neb. App. 349, 806 N.W.2d 128 (2011).