Opinion
No. 73002
12-13-2017
GARRET JAMES REUBEN VIGIL, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF NEVADA, Respondent.
ORDER OF AFFIRMANCE
Garrett James Reuben Vigil appeals from a judgment of conviction entered pursuant to a guilty plea of child endangerment and destruction or injury to property. Second Judicial District Court, Washoe County; Janet J. Berry, Judge.
Vigil argues his sentence of consecutive terms totaling 544 days in jail constitutes cruel and unusual punishment because the district court could have sentenced him to serve concurrent terms and a shorter sentence was warranted given the mitigating circumstances. Vigil also argues a lengthier term serves no penal purpose.
Regardless of its severity, a sentence that is "within the statutory limits is not 'cruel and unusual punishment unless the statute fixing punishment is unconstitutional or the sentence is so unreasonably disproportionate to the offense as to shock the conscience.'" Blume v. State, 112 Nev. 472, 475, 915 P.2d 282, 284 (1996) (quoting Culverson v. State, 95 Nev. 433, 435, 596 P.2d 220, 221-22 (1979)); see also Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 1000-01 (1991) (plurality opinion) (explaining the Eighth Amendment does not require strict proportionality between crime and sentence; it forbids only an extreme sentence that is grossly disproportionate to the crime).
The sentence imposed falls within the parameters provided by the relevant statutes. See NRS 176.035(1); NRS 193.140; NRS 193.155(2); NRS 200.508(2)(b)(1); NRS 206.310. Vigil does not allege those statutes are unconstitutional or his sentence was so disproportionate to the offenses that it shocks the conscience. We conclude the sentence imposed is not grossly disproportionate to the crimes and does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Accordingly, we
ORDER the judgment of conviction AFFIRMED.
/s/_________, C.J.
Silver
/s/_________, J.
Tao
/s/_________, J.
Gibbons cc: Chief Judge, Second Judicial District Court
Troy Curtis Jordan
Attorney General/Carson City
Washoe County District Attorney
Washoe District Court Clerk