Opinion ID: 1862422
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Ineffectiveness of Trial Counsel at Second Sentencing.

Text: Gray argues that he is entitled to postconviction relief based upon trial counsel's ineffectiveness at Gray's second sentencing. Specifically, Gray argues that trial counsel was ineffective due to counsel's failure to object to the trial court's imposition of a sentence which was purportedly an ex post facto application of the 1995 amended sentencing statute to his 1990 crime. The record shows that Gray was not subject to an ex post facto application of sentencing laws, his trial counsel was not ineffective, and there is no merit to this assignment of error. We have recently observed that [a] law which purports to apply to events that occurred before the law's enactment, and which disadvantages a defendant by creating or enhancing penalties that did not exist when the offense was committed, is an ex post facto law and will not be endorsed by the courts. State v. Urbano, 256 Neb. 194, 207, 589 N.W.2d 144, 154 (1999). This ex post facto analysis applies when a statutory amendment changes the punishment of a crime. Id. In 1990, when the crime was committed, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 28-105 (Reissue 1989) provided, inter alia, that the range of potential penalties for a defendant convicted of a Class IB felony, such as second degree murder, was not less than 10 years' imprisonment to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. In 1995, § 28-105 was amended such that the minimum sentence for second degree murder was raised from 10 years' imprisonment to 20 years' imprisonment, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. See § 28-105 (Reissue 1995). Gray contends that following his second conviction for second degree murder, the district court utilized the 1995 amended statute when imposing a flat life sentence upon him on January 16, 1997, and that this sentence was an ex post facto application of the 1995 amendment to his 1990 crime. The record shows otherwise. Gray correctly notes that under the amended sentencing statute relating to second degree murder, the increased minimum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment as opposed to 10 years' imprisonment affects the time when a prisoner will be eligible for parole. See Neb.Rev.Stat. § 83-1,110 (Reissue 1999). At his second sentencing, Gray received a determinate sentence of life imprisonment, the same sentence as he had originally received in 1991. We note that in 1990, when Gray committed the second degree murder for which he was sentenced, Nebraska law did not permit the imposition of an indeterminate sentence for second degree murder. See State v. Secret, 246 Neb. 1002, 524 N.W.2d 551 (1994), overruled on other grounds, State v. Burlison, 255 Neb. 190, 583 N.W.2d 31 (1998). When a flat sentence of life imprisonment is imposed and no minimum sentence is stated, by operation of law, the minimum sentence for parole eligibility purposes is the minimum imposed by law under the statute. Urbano, supra ; State v. Thompson, 189 Neb. 115, 201 N.W.2d 204 (1972). Therefore, by operation of law, the minimum sentence for parole eligibility purposes applicable to the life sentence imposed on January 16, 1997, is the minimum provided by law, or 20 years' imprisonment, unless the imposition of such minimum sentence would violate the prohibition against ex post facto laws. See Urbano, supra . Because the 1995 amendment raised the minimum sentence for parole eligibility purposes on a flat life sentence for a second degree murder conviction from 10 years' imprisonment to 20 years' imprisonment, the 1995 amendment would disadvantage Gray. Thus, in this case, the prohibition against ex post facto laws requires that Gray's 1997 sentence cannot be imposed pursuant to the 1995 amendment. Gray's sentence must, therefore, be imposed pursuant to the sentencing structure in place at the time of the commission of the crime in 1990, rather than pursuant to the amended sentencing structure in place in 1997. A review of Gray's presentence report, prepared following his second conviction and prior to his sentencing, indicates on the first page that the sentencing range to which Gray was subject was 10 years' to life imprisonment. Ten years was the statutory minimum in 1990 when Gray committed the crime. The trial court sentenced Gray to a flat life sentence, which was effectively a sentence in which the minimum sentence for parole eligibility purposes was the minimum provided by law, subject to ex post facto principles. See Thompson, supra (holding that eligibility for parole of defendant who received flat life sentence for second degree murder was same as though statutory minimum had been expressed as minimum of indeterminate sentence). Consistent therewith, the affidavit of Riethmuller shows that DCS has treated Gray's sentence as 10 years' to life imprisonment. The affidavit indicates that according to DCS, Gray will be eligible for parole at the earliest on January 15, 2002, which date is 5 years after the January 16, 1997, sentencing and one-half of the 10 years' imprisonment minimum. See § 83-1,110. Riethmuller's affidavit demonstrates that the district court imposed a sentence upon Gray based upon the sentencing statute in effect at the time Gray committed the crime. Because Gray was not subject to an ex post facto application of the law, no objection by trial counsel was required, and the files and records show there was no ineffectiveness of trial counsel in relation to the imposition of the second sentence in 1997. This assignment of error is without merit.