CARSON CITY -- A state Supreme Court decision upholding a prison sentence for a Mexican national involved in a drug crime could lead to huge costs to taxpayers as more and more illegal immigrants serve time rather than receiving probation, a public defender said Thursday.

"This decision is going to cost the taxpayers millions of dollars because we are going to put hundreds of illegal aliens in prison for low-level offenses," said Howard Brooks, chief of the appellate team for the Clark County Public Defender's Office. "The logic is sound but it's bad public policy."

Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney James Tufteland questioned that interpretation, saying he did not view the decision as any major policy change.

"It is a decision in one particular case with those particular circumstances," he said. "We'll have to wait and see if there are any further ramifications."

The ruling by a three-member panel of the court upheld the prison sentence for Salvador Ruvalcaba, who pleaded guilty to one count of sale of a controlled substance.

Ruvalcaba is a Mexican national who was in the country illegally at the time of the offense.

Clark County District Judge Donald Mosley sentenced Ruvalcaba to 60 months in prison with eligibility for parole after 24 months, based on the recommendation in a sentencing report.

Ruvalcaba objected to references to his illegal alien status in the sentencing report recommending the prison term. In an earlier Nevada case, the Supreme Court said relying on a person's nationality when sentencing would violate a person's due process rights.

But the court said it was not Ruvalcaba's nationality that led Mosley to sentence him to prison. Instead it was the fact that if placed on probation, Ruvalcaba would be deported to Mexico and so would not be punished for his crime.

The court said that Ruvalcaba concedes the sentence was within the penalty range for one count of sale of a controlled substance.

The Nevada court cited a California case that found that a person's ability to comply with the terms of probation "is certainly a legitimate factor for a sentencing judge to consider in determining whether to grant probation."

Brooks said past practice has been to sentence such offenders to probation. They are then deported and if they return to the United States and arrested they would have to serve their sentences.

But in the decision authored by Justice Bill Maupin, the court found that Mosley's concern that Ruvalcaba could not serve probation because he would be deported justified the imposition of the prison sentence.

Brooks, who did not represent Ruvalcaba, said the man's attorney, Kirk Kennedy, could seek rehearing from the panel or consideration of the case by the entire seven-member court. Kennedy could not immediately be reached for comment.

"The decision in effect ends probation for illegal aliens because they can't comply with probation requirements," Brooks said.

But Tufteland said the decision was specific to this case and not necessarily a license to other judges to sentence illegal aliens to prison rather than probation.

"If probation is given and the person is deported, the whole purpose of supervision during probation can be thwarted," he said. "Some illegals get deported and come back. If they are back here and not being supervised by the criminal justice system, the attempt to reach a satisfactory result is all for naught."