Court Opinion

ID: 9631369
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:35:43.46677+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:52.867394
License: Public Domain

Steffen, J.,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
It is manifestly clear that if the prosecutor had stipulated to Staley’s status under the “little habitual criminal” statute, NRS 207.010(1), as part of the plea bargain and thereafter, at sentencing, argued for a major habitual criminal status, NRS 207.010(2), this court would have unhesitatingly vacated any sentence based upon the latter statute. In Doane v. State, 98 Nev. 75, 639 P.2d 1175 (1982), the State agreed as part of the plea bargain to stand silent at the time of sentencing. When the judge pronounced the maximum sentence on each of the felony counts involved in the plea, no mention was made as to whether the sentences would run concurrently or consecutively. Under Nevada law, NRS 176.035(1), multiple sentences run concurrently unless otherwise specified. After the court pronounced sentence, the prosecutor asked if the sentences would run consecutively, and the court responded in the affirmative. We reversed and remanded for imposition of concurrent sentences consistent with the original sentencing prior to what we considered to be the prosecutor’s breach of the plea agreement. See also Riley v. Warden, 89 Nev. 510, 515 P.2d 1269 (1973).
I am unable to ascertain by what principles of criminal or contract law the State is meticulously bound by the terms of a plea agreement and the defendant is not. Here, as noted by the majority, Staley stipulated to a “major habitual criminal status.” During the sentencing, in violation of the stipulation, defense counsel argued that Staley should be sentenced under the “little habitual criminal statute.” Sentences imposed under the major habitual statute must be life sentences with or without parole; sentences pronounced under the minor habitual statute may be not less than ten years nor more than twenty years. Clearly, the *82sentencing procedure was prejudiced by Staley’s breach of the negotiated plea bargain.
Without citing to any authority, the majority declares that “a person cannot stipulate to a status.” I suggest that the majority is wrong. Aside from the fact that Staley had incurred the requisite three felony convictions prior to his plea entry in the instant case, Staley was also charged with seventeen additional counts of burglary which the State agreed to dismiss as part of the negotiated plea agreement. Under the circumstances, it was perfectly proper for Staley to stipulate to being treated under the major habitual criminal statute. Moreover, for purposes of enhancement, when a defendant admits to prior convictions, as he may, he effectively admits to whatever status the law affixes to the number of prior convictions conceded by the defendant. As held in Hanson v. State, 716 P.2d 688, 690 (Okla.Crim.App. 1986), “In the absence of an objection or evidence proving otherwise, it may be concluded that a conviction admitted by the defendant at trial ... is final.” The fact that a defendant’s judicial admission occurs at the entry of a plea or at sentencing, rather than trial, is of no significance. Staley and his counsel were free to admit Staley’s status under the major habitual statute.
Moreover, if the majority’s contention that a person cannot stipulate to a status is correct, then the plea agreement was the product of a mutual mistake which should provide the State, who has been prejudiced by the mistake, with the right to have the agreement declared invalid.
I suggest that the majority also misses the point in observing that the sentencing judge has a discretion “not to impose a penalty under the habitual criminal statutes regardless of the number of valid prior convictions.” It would have made just as much sense to say, in Doane, that because the judge had a discretion to sentence Doane originally to consecutive terms, the prosecutor’s breach of the agreement to remain silent was of no consequence. The point is, as a result of Staley’s breach, the judge elected to sentence Staley under the minor habitual statute. Subsequently, when the judge was made aware of Staley’s breach by the State’s motion to modify Staley’s sentences or to set his guilty pleas aside, the judge determined that Staley should have been sentenced under the major habitual statute and changed the sentence accordingly. In my opinion, the sentencing judge properly exercised her discretion in revising the sentence to comport with her option under the true stipulation between the State and Staley. Once a sentencing judge has determined to apply the major habitual statute, a life sentence with or without parole is mandatory.
In Doane, we held that “[c]ommonly, when a breach [of a plea *83bargain] occurs, a defendant’s rights can be protected either by permitting withdrawal of the negotiated plea or by resentencing before a judge untainted by the violation.” 98 Nev. at 77, 639 P.2d at 1176. In the instant case, if the sentencing judge is not to be affirmed in modifying Staley’s sentence, the State should be entitled to have Staley’s guilty pleas set aside or to have a different judge sentence Staley under circumstances that are in strict accordance with the negotiated plea agreement.
Staley received the full benefit of his plea bargain when seventeen pending counts of burglary were dismissed by the State. The State, by reason of Staley’s breach of the agreement, has been deprived of its right to have Staley sentenced under agreed upon conditions that should have existed at sentencing. This is but one more instance when the State, representing the people, is prejudiced by unilateral advantages accorded criminal defendants by the judiciary despite clear evidence of guilt.
Because I believe that both the State and the defendant must strictly comply with the terms of a negotiated plea agreement, I must respectfully dissent from the majority’s opinion favoring a contrary position.