Opinion ID: 1218865
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Heading: Whether Amended NRS 62.080 Should Apply Retroactively.

Text: Prior to 1991, NRS 62.080 provided: If a child 16 years of age or older is charged with an offense which would be a felony if committed by an adult, the juvenile division of the district court, after full investigation, may in its discretion retain jurisdiction or certify the child for proper criminal proceedings to any court which would have trial jurisdiction of such offense if committed by an adult; but no child under 16 years of age may be so certified. In 1991, the Nevada Legislature amended NRS 62.080 to state: [n]o child may be [certified as an adult] unless he was 16 years of age or older at the time he allegedly committed the offense charged. 1991 Nev. Stat., ch. 160, sec. 11, pp. 304-05. Castillo asserts that the district court erred in failing to apply amended NRS 62.080 to his case. Because Castillo committed the crimes one month shy of his sixteenth birthday, retroactive application of NRS 62.080(1) would result in a finding that the district court lacked jurisdiction to try Castillo as an adult. In Nevada and neighboring jurisdictions, changes in statutes are presumed to operate prospectively absent clear legislative intent to apply a statute retroactively. Allstate Insurance Co. v. Furgerson, 104 Nev. 772, 776, 766 P.2d 904, 907 (1988); Walstrom v. State, 104 Nev. 51, 53 n. 3, 752 P.2d 225, 227 n. 3 (1988); accord White v. Western Title Co., 40 Cal.3d 870, 221 Cal.Rptr. 509, 516, 710 P.2d 309, 316 (1985); Riley v. People, 828 P.2d 254, 257 (Colo.1992). There is no indication that the Legislature intended that amended NRS 62.080 apply retroactively. The amendment was a small part of an omnibus crime bill that was not debated because all parties were in agreement. Though the law was passed in May, 1991, it did not become effective until October 1, 1991. The only indication of legislative intent with regard to the amendment is found in the minutes of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which state: Section 11 dealt with juvenile-adult jurisdiction. The Nevada Supreme Court case of State of Nevada v. District Court in November, 1989 resulted in confusion in the law on this issue.... Mr. Picker opined the legislature intended if the crime was committed by a person who was 16 at the time of the crime, then he qualified for adult adjudication upon a motion of the district attorney. Section 11 would clarify the statute toward that intent. Hearing on A.B. 383 Before the Assembly Judiciary Committee, March 20, 1991, p. 4. As the above-quoted passage shows, the Legislature, as a result of this court's opinion in State v. District Court, 105 Nev. 644, 781 P.2d 776 (1989), was well aware of Castillo's case at the time that it amended the statute. If the Legislature was concerned with Castillo or others in his situation and intended the statute to apply retroactively, they could have so directed. Nowhere in the legislative history does the Legislature indicate an intent that the amendment apply retroactively. Appellant argues that because NRS 62.080 is a statute which is both procedural and remedial, it should apply retroactively despite such lack of legislative intent. See Harrison v. Otis Elevator Co., 935 F.2d 714, 719 (5th Cir.1991) (stating that procedural acts describe methods for enforcing, processing, administering or determining rights or liabilities, and holding that [i]t is well settled that legislation that is interpretive, procedural, or remedial must be applied retroactively, while substantive amendments are given only prospective application); see also Wash. Nat. Ins. v. Sherwood Assoc., 795 P.2d 665, 669 n. 9 (Utah Ct.App.1990) (a remedial statute in the context of a retroactivity determination means a statutory change in the judicial procedure available to pursue a claim, and a clarification of prior legislative intent). We reject appellant's contention for the following reasons. First, we note that the majority of state courts do not mandate that such statutes be applied retroactively, but instead leave the determination to the court's discretion. See Texas County Irr. and Water Resources Ass'n v. Oklahoma Water Resources Board, 803 P.2d 1119 (Okla.1991) (a clarifying amendment can be given retrospective application if it does not affect vested rights); In re F.D. Processing, Inc., 119 Wash.2d 452, 832 P.2d 1303, 1307 (1993) (amendments may be retroactively applied if they are remedial in nature and do not affect substantive rights). Second, in analogous situations, this court has ruled that changes in criminal procedure based upon judicial decisions were to be applied prospectively, not retroactively. See Gier v. Ninth Judicial District Court, 106 Nev. 208, 789 P.2d 1245 (1990); Heimrich v. State, 97 Nev. 358, 630 P.2d 1224 (1981). The changes in law in Gier and Heimrich involved changes in the grand jury and guilty plea process. Since such changes were procedural and were not of constitutional dimension, we concluded that they were not to be applied retroactively. Similarly, the change in NRS 62.080 is an important procedural change, but is not of constitutional dimension and need not be applied retroactively. Third, an amendment is considered remedial only if it clarifies or technically corrects an ambiguous statute. In re F.D. Processing, Inc., 832 P.2d at 1308. The legislative minutes reveal that the Legislature amended NRS 62.080 to clarify the confusion caused by the decision of State v. District Court, 105 Nev. 644, 781 P.2d 776 (1989). However, despite language in the legislative history indicating that the Legislature intended to clarify their original intent, courts have held that legislative enactments responding to judicial interpretations of a statute by affirmatively changing the statute are not clarifications of original legislative intent, but are amendments presumed to operate prospectively absent contrary legislative intent. See Marine Power v. Washington State Hum. Rights, 39 Wash. App. 609, 694 P.2d 697, 701 (1985). Such decisions are based on the fact that after the supreme court of a state has interpreted the statute in question, it is no longer ambiguous and therefore cannot be clarified by the Legislature. Id. Therefore, absent clear legislative intent to the contrary, clarifying amendments will be applied retrospectively only if they do not contravene any judicial construction of the statute. F.D. Processing, 832 P.2d at 1308; Marine Power, 694 P.2d at 700 (legislative clarification, as opposed to a legislative amendment, is generally retroactive, but a legislature may not overrule by legislative enactment a prior authoritative supreme court opinion construing a statute: such a result would make the legislature a court of last resort.). Lastly, since Castillo was scheduled for trial in 1990 and failed to appear when he fled to Florida, he is asking this court to consider arguments that would not have been available to him had he complied with the law. Allowing Castillo benefit from his intentional, illegal absence from the State goes against common notions of fairness and justice. In a similar case, the Supreme Court of Minnesota refused to allow such a benefit to a seventeen year old charged with homicide in the juvenile court. See In the Matter of Welfare of S.V., 296 N.W.2d 404 (Minn.1980). The juvenile left the state, moved to Texas, and was not arrested until after he turned twenty-one. The court rejected the appellant's contention that because he was over twenty-one and the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction, he could not be prosecuted for his crime. Id. at 407. Refusing to accept this home free argument allowing the offender to benefit from his illegal flight, the court ruled that the adult court automatically obtained jurisdiction. Id. at 407-08. We likewise refuse to allow Castillo to illegally flee the state and come back yelling home free now that NRS 62.080 has been amended. Thus, we conclude that the district court did not err in failing to apply NRS 62.080 retroactively to Castillo.