Opinion
No. 61540
03-13-2014
IN THE MATTER FOR CHANGE OF NAME AS TO: MATTHEW SCOTT WHITE. MATTHEW SCOTT WHITE, Appellant, v. THE SEVENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF WHITE PINE, Respondent.
An unpublished order shall not be regarded as precedent and shall not be cited as legal authority. SCR 123.
ORDER OF AFFIRMANCE
This is a proper person appeal from a district court order denying a petition for a change of name. Seventh Judicial District Court, White Pine County; Steve L. Dobrescu, Judge. As directed, respondent has filed a response.
Appellant, an inmate, filed a petition in the district court seeking to change his name to "Matty Hercules Storm." In his petition, appellant stated that he was seeking a name change for "religious purposes" and that he was currently incarcerated "under [a] lawful felony conviction." See NRS 41.270 (requiring that a petition for change of name include "the reason for desiring the change and whether the applicant has been convicted of a felony"). In denying the petition, the district court, in accordance with NRS 41.290(1), considered appellant's criminal record as stated in the petition, noting that appellant had failed to provide any information regarding the felonies for which he had been convicted and that the portions of NRS 41.270 and NRS 41.290 related to felons and criminal records were designed to "place oversight on felons" seeking to change their names and to address issues related to an inmate changing his or her name while incarcerated.
On appeal, appellant takes issue with the district court's concern that he had not provided any information regarding what felonies he was convicted of, asserting that NRS 41.270 simply required him to declare that he had been convicted of a felony. But NRS 41.290(1) requires a court considering a name change petition to "specifically take into consideration the applicant's criminal record, if any, which is stated in the petition." Given that appellant did not provide the district court with any explanation of his criminal history beyond the fact that he was currently incarcerated under a felony conviction, we conclude that appellant failed to provide the court with sufficient information to allow it to fulfill the requirements set forth in NRS 41.290(1).
Further, while appellant provides additional explanation as to how the name change is necessary for religious purposes, and argues that denying his request violates his First Amendment rights under the United States Constitution and the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, appellant failed to present any of this information or these arguments below, and we will not consider them for the first time on appeal. See Coast to Coast Demolition and Crushing, Inc. v. Real Equity Pursuit, LLC, 126 Nev. _, _, 226 P.3d 605, 607 (2010) (noting that issues not litigated in the district court and raised for the first time on appeal need not be considered by this court). Accordingly, we conclude that the district court properly denied appellant's name change petition, and we therefore
ORDER the judgment of the district court AFFIRMED.
___________________, J.
Hardesty
___________________, J.
Douglas
___________________, J.
Cherry
cc: Hon. Steve L. Dobrescu, District Judge
Matthew Scott White
Attorney General/Carson City
White Pine County Clerk