Perez v. Williams
Perez v. Williams
Opinion of the Court
Appellant Gerardo Perez is serving a sentence for using a deadly weapon in the commission of a second-degree murder in 2003. In a postconviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus, Perez challenged the computation of time he has served. He claimed, in relevant part, that the credits he earns under NRS 209.4465 must be applied to the minimum term of his enhancement sentence. The district court rejected that argument, concluding that the applicable sentencing statute specified a minimum term that Perez had to serve before becoming eligible for parole and therefore NRS 209.4465(7)(b) precluded respondent from applying the statutory credits to the minimum term of Perez's enhancement sentence. Perez argues that the district court erred because the sentencing statute is silent as to parole eligibility.
DISCUSSION
NRS 209.4465(7)(b) provides that statutory credits may be applied to the minimum *1034term of an offender's sentence "unless the offender was sentenced pursuant to a statute which specifies a minimum sentence that must be served before a person becomes eligible for parole."
When interpreting a statute, we focus on its plain language. State v . Lucero,
Here, NRS 200.030(5) prescribed the sentence for the primary offense of second-degree murder: either life with the possibility of parole or a definite term of 25 years, both "with eligibility for parole beginning when a minimum of 10 years has been served ." NRS 200.030(5)(a), (b) (emphasis added). Perez therefore was sentenced for the weapon enhancement pursuant to a statute that specified a minimum sentence-10 years-that he had to serve before becoming eligible for parole on the enhancement sentence. See Williams , 133 Nev. at 597-98, 402 P.3d at 1262-63 (explaining the difference between parole-eligibility statutes, which "delineate a [maximum sentence], with eligibility for parole beginning when a minimum of [x] years has been served," and minimum-maximum sentencing statutes, which are silent as to parole eligibility (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted)). As such, NRS 209.4465(7)(b) precludes respondent from applying Perez's statutory credits to the minimum term of his weapon enhancement sentence.
We previously decided this matter in an unpublished order but then granted respondent's motion to publish the decision as an opinion.
Perez has not raised any issues related to the other computation claims in his petition.
The exceptions to NRS 209.4465(7) that are set forth in NRS 209.4465(8) do not apply here because the offense at issue was committed before the effective date of NRS 209.4465(8). See Williams v. State, Dep't of Corr.,
The analysis is different under NRS 193.165(1) as amended in 2007 because those amendments eliminated the "equal" sentence language and replaced it with minimum-maximum penalties that do not mention parole eligibility. Those amendments do not apply here. Pullin,
Perez's reliance on our unpublished decision in Garcia v. Baca , Docket No. 70874,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.