Opinion ID: 1277296
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Sentence of Life Imprisonment Without Parole

Text: Following Gunther's first degree murder conviction, the trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The death penalty could be sought against Gunther only if the information charging him had contained a notice alleging aggravating circumstances. See § 29-1603(2)(a). Since no notice was filed, Gunther's conviction for first degree murder was classified as a Class IA felony, and the court entered a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. Gunther argues, and the State concurs, that the cause should be remanded for resentencing because the sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-105(1) (Cum. Supp. 2004) was erroneous but not void under our holding in State v. Conover, 270 Neb. 446, 703 N.W.2d 898 (2005). As we explained in Conover, the amendment to § 28-105(1) in the 2002 Third Special Session was not related to or germane to any of the purposes for which the special session was called and had no natural connection to such purposes. Consequently, we held that the Legislature lacked constitutional authority to amend the language of the statutory penalty for a Class IA felony during the 2002 special session. Conover, 270 Neb. at 452, 703 N.W.2d at 904. [15] This court has the power on direct appeal to remand a cause for the imposition of a lawful sentence where an erroneous one has been pronounced. Conover, supra . We remanded the cause in Conover with directions to resentence the defendant to life imprisonment on each of his two convictions. We explained this result in the following manner: In the context of our ex post facto analyses in State v. Mata, 266 Neb. 668, 668 N.W.2d 448 (2003), and State v. Gales, supra, we concluded that the phrase without parole, as employed in L.B. 1, was severable so as to permit resentencing to life imprisonment under the prior version of the statute if the death penalty was not imposed on remand. Moreover, for the same reason that the Legislature lacked constitutional authority to add the phrase without parole to § 28-105(1) during the 2002 special session, it also lacked authority to repeal the version of the statute then in existence which prescribed the penalty for a Class IA felony as life imprisonment. Thus, at the time of Conover's sentencing, the district court had statutory authority to impose a sentence of life imprisonment on each of the two counts of first degree murder, but it lacked authority to add the phrase without parole. Consequently, the sentences were erroneous but not void. See State v. Rouse, 206 Neb. 371, 293 N.W.2d 83 (1980), and Draper v. Sigler, 177 Neb. 726, 131 N.W.2d 131 (1964) (both holding that indeterminate sentence imposed for crime, where not authorized by statute, is erroneous but not void). See, also, State v. Alford, 6 Neb. App. 969, 578 N.W.2d 885 (1998). Conover, 270 Neb. at 452-53, 703 N.W.2d at 904-05. Pursuant to our decision in Conover, we remand the cause with directions to resentence Gunther to life imprisonment on the first degree murder conviction.