CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Nevada's habitual offender statute, reviewing the law in a Northern Nevada case in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the issue.
The court said the state law is not affected by the high court's ruling in Apprendi v. New Jersey.
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The case in question in Nevada involved Washoe County resident Christopher O'Neill, who was indicted on three counts of possessing a forged instrument. Prosecutors indicated they would seek to have O'Neill classified as a habitual criminal.
O'Neill was found guilty on the three counts. Based on six prior felony convictions, he was found to be a habitual criminal and was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 10 years on each count.
On appeal, O'Neill said he should not have been found to be a habitual criminal based on the Apprendi ruling.
In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court found that any fact other than a prior conviction that increases the penalty in a habitual criminal case must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
The district court had found in sentencing O'Neill that his previous convictions were substantial and that some were violent in nature. O'Neill argued that these considerations went beyond the bare establishment of prior convictions.
But the Nevada Supreme Court, in reviewing the state law, found that it does not allow a judge to consider any factors other than prior convictions and so is constitutional under Apprendi.
The court thus affirmed O'Neill's convictions and the finding that he is a habitual criminal.
