Opinion ID: 2169632
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: sentencing as habitual criminal

Text: Burdette claims generally that the district court erred because it doubly enhanced his sentence. Burdette specifically claims that given the fact that the first degree sexual assault with which he was charged and convicted in count I was first degree sexual assault, second offense, the district court erred when it sentenced him on count I as a habitual criminal. Burdette misperceives the sentencing structure applicable to count I. Burdette was convicted of first degree sexual assault, second offense, for which the sentence found in § 28-319(3) ordinarily applies. Section 28-319(3) provides: Any person who is found guilty of sexual assault in the first degree for a second time when the first conviction was pursuant to this section or any other state or federal law with essentially the same elements as this section shall be sentenced to not less than twenty-five years and shall not be eligible for parole. However, § 28-319(3) did not apply to Burdette's sentencing because Burdette was found to be a habitual criminal, one of whose prior felonies was a first degree sexual assault, and he was instead sentenced under § 29-2221(1)(a), the habitual criminal statute specifically applicable to a defendant with such a criminal record. Burdette was charged in count VI as a habitual criminal under § 29-2221. Section 29-2221 does not create a separate offense, but, rather, provides for enhanced punishment where a defendant is found to be a habitual criminal. Under § 29-2221(1), a defendant convicted of a felony may be deemed a habitual criminal if the defendant has been (1) twice previously convicted of a crime, (2) sentenced, and (3) committed to prison for terms of not less than 1 year each. Generally, one deemed to be a habitual criminal shall be punished by imprisonment for a mandatory minimum term of 10 years and a maximum term of not more than 60 years upon each conviction for a felony committed subsequent to the prior convictions used as the basis for the habitual criminal charge. However, another portion of the habitual criminal sentencing statute, § 29-2221(1)(a), provides a specific provision which controls the habitual criminal sentencing where the defendant is convicted of one of the listed felonies, in this case, first degree sexual assault, second offense, under § 28-319, and has as one of his or her prior felonies one of the listed felonies, in this case, § 28-319. Section 29-2221(1)(a) provides: If the felony committed is in violation of section 28-303, 28-304, 28-308, 28-313, 28-319, 28-502, 28-929, or 28-1222, and at least one of the habitual criminal's prior felony convictions was for a violation of one of the sections listed in this subdivision or of a similar statute in another state or of the United States, the mandatory minimum term shall be twenty-five years and the maximum term not more than sixty years. (Emphasis supplied.) It is the habitual criminal sentencing statute found at § 29-2221(1)(a) which specifically applies to Burdette, and the district court properly applied this section when it imposed a sentence of 35 to 60 years' imprisonment on Burdette's conviction on count I. Burdette argues that sentencing him as a habitual criminal on the count of first degree sexual assault, second offense, was a double enhancement of his penalty. We do not agree. Burdette cites to State v. Hittle, 257 Neb. 344, 598 N.W.2d 20 (1999), for the proposition that the State cannot, in effect, doubly enhance a defendant's criminal conviction. In Hittle, we held that a conviction for driving under a suspended license in violation of Neb.Rev.Stat. § 60-6,196(6) (Reissue 1998), which was deemed to be a felony rather than a misdemeanor, may not be used either to trigger application of the habitual criminal statute or as a prior offense for purposes of penalty enhancement pursuant thereto. Id. We noted that a defendant should not be subjected to double penalty enhancement through application of both a specific subsequent offense statute and a habitual criminal statute and that the specific enhancement mechanism contained in Nebraska's [driving under the influence] statutes precludes application of the general enhancement provisions set forth in the habitual criminal statute. State v. Hittle, 257 Neb. at 355, 598 N.W.2d at 29. A comparison of the interplay of the habitual criminal statute and § 28-319 in the instant case with the habitual criminal statute and the driving under a suspended license statutes in Hittle shows marked differences. Section 60-6,196(6), at issue in Hittle, provided that a person is guilty of driving under a suspended license, a felony, if the person was driving at a time during which his or her license had been revoked pursuant to two previous driving under the influence convictions. We held in Hittle that one can become a felon under § 60-6,196(6) only by having first committed multiple driving under the influence offenses, at least some of which are misdemeanors, and that the penalty for the act of driving under a suspended license had in a real sense been enhanced from one of misdemeanor status to one of felony status because under other circumstances, see Neb.Rev.Stat. § 60-4,186 (Reissue 1998), driving under a suspended license is a misdemeanor. Section 28-319(3) provides that in a first degree sexual assault case where the defendant has a prior conviction for first degree sexual assault, the crime shall be deemed first degree sexual assault, second offense. Both first degree sexual assault and first degree sexual assault, second offense, are felonies, and therefore, the subsequent offense of first degree sexual assault has not been enhanced as was the case in Hittle. Section 29-2221(1)(a) provides the specific enhancement mechanism where the current conviction is for a first degree sexual assault and the defendant has two or more prior felony convictions, including at least one of which is for first degree sexual assault. In such a case, § 29-2221(1)(a) dictates a sentencing range of 25 to 60 years' imprisonment. The district court did not doubly enhance Burdette's sentence pursuant to both § 28-319(3) and the habitual criminal statute. Instead, the district court properly sentenced Burdette pursuant to § 29-2221(1)(a) as a habitual criminal. Pursuant to count I, Burdette was convicted of first degree sexual assault, second offense, in violation of § 28-319, and at least one of Burdette's prior felony convictions was for a violation of § 28-319. Section 29-2221(1)(a) controlled the sentencing of count I and provides that in such circumstances, the mandatory minimum term shall be 25 years' imprisonment and the maximum term not more than 60 years' imprisonment. The sentence imposed by the district court of 35 to 60 years' imprisonment on count I was within these statutory limits. Sentences within statutory limits will be disturbed by an appellate court only if the sentence complained of was an abuse of judicial discretion. State v. Burkhardt, 258 Neb. 1050, 607 N.W.2d 512 (2000). We find no abuse of discretion in the district court's sentencing of Burdette, and we therefore reject Burdette's final assignment of error.