State v. Rivera-Meister

318 Neb. 164
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 6, 2024
DocketS-24-168
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 318 Neb. 164 (State v. Rivera-Meister) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Rivera-Meister, 318 Neb. 164 (Neb. 2024).

Opinion

Nebraska Supreme Court Online Library www.nebraska.gov/apps-courts-epub/ 12/06/2024 09:08 AM CST

- 164 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 318 Nebraska Reports STATE V. RIVERA-MEISTER Cite as 318 Neb. 164

State of Nebraska, appellee, v. Ryan D. Rivera-Meister, appellant. ___ N.W.3d ___

Filed December 6, 2024. No. S-24-168.

1. Sentences: Appeal and Error. Whether a defendant is entitled to credit for time served and in what amount are questions of law, subject to appellate review independent of the lower court. 2. ____: ____. An appellate court will not disturb a sentence imposed within the statutory limits absent an abuse of discretion by the trial court. 3. Judgments: Words and Phrases. An abuse of discretion occurs when a trial court’s decision is based upon reasons that are untenable or unrea- sonable or if its action is clearly against justice or conscience, reason, and evidence. 4. Sentences: Statutes. The calculation and application of credit for time served is controlled by statute, and different statutes govern depending on whether the defendant is sentenced to jail or prison. 5. Sentences. Due to the mandatory “shall” language used in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-1,106(1) (Reissue 2014), the statute mandates that credit for time served must be given for time spent in custody on a charge when a prison sentence is imposed for a conviction of such charge. 6. Sentences: Records. The amount of credit for time served to which a defendant is entitled is an absolute and objective number that is estab- lished by the record, and courts have no discretion to grant a defendant more or less credit than is established by the record. 7. Sentences: Records: Proof. The party advocating for a specific jail credit calculation has the burden to provide the sentencing court with a record that establishes such calculation. 8. Sentences: Extradition and Detainer. Nothing in the plain text of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-1,106(1) (Reissue 2014) authorizes a sentencing court to withhold credit for time spent in custody on a charge for which the offender is sentenced merely because the offender was extradited. - 165 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 318 Nebraska Reports STATE V. RIVERA-MEISTER Cite as 318 Neb. 164

9. Foreign Judgments: Sentences: Time. An offender who is serving a sentence on another conviction while awaiting trial and sentencing on Nebraska charges is not entitled to credit for time served on his or her Nebraska sentences under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-1,106(1) (Reissue 2014). 10. ____: ____: ____. When being sentenced to prison on a Nebraska charge, an offender is entitled to credit under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-1,106(1) (Reissue 2014) for time spent in custody as a result of such charge, even if that custody was outside Nebraska. 11. ____: ____: ____. Because credit under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-1,106(1) (Reissue 2014) can only be given once, an offender who is in custody as a result of a Nebraska charge, but who is also in custody serving an unrelated sentence, is not entitled to credit under § 83-1,106(1) for time that has been credited toward the sentence. 12. Sentences: Records. When a trial court gives a defendant more or less credit for time served than he or she is entitled to, that portion of the pronouncement of sentence is erroneous and may be corrected to reflect the accurate amount of credit as verified objectively by the record. 13. Sentences: Appeal and Error. An appellate court will not disturb a sen- tence imposed within the statutory limits absent an abuse of discretion by the trial court. 14. ____: ____. Where a sentence imposed within the statutory limits is alleged on appeal to be excessive, the appellate court must determine whether a sentencing court abused its discretion in considering and applying the relevant factors, as well as any applicable legal principles in determining the sentence to be imposed. 15. Sentences. In determining a sentence to be imposed, relevant factors customarily considered and applied are the defendant’s (1) age, (2) men- tality, (3) education and experience, (4) social and cultural background, (5) past criminal record or record of law-abiding conduct, and (6) moti- vation for the offense, as well as (7) the nature of the offense and (8) the amount of violence involved in the commission of the crime.

Appeal from the District Court for Hall County, Andrew C. Butler, Judge. Affirmed as modified.

Matthew J. McDonald, of Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, for appellant.

Michael T. Hilgers, Attorney General, and P. Christian Adamski for appellee. - 166 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 318 Nebraska Reports STATE V. RIVERA-MEISTER Cite as 318 Neb. 164

Funke, C.J., Miller-Lerman, Cassel, Stacy, Papik, and Freudenberg, JJ. Stacy, J. After pleading no contest to one count of attempted inten- tional child abuse resulting in death, Ryan D. Rivera-Meister was sentenced to a prison term of 40 to 50 years and was given credit for 706 days spent in a Nebraska jail prior to sentencing. In this direct appeal, he contends his sentence was excessive and he seeks an additional 266 days of credit for time spent in custody in Guatemala awaiting extradition to Nebraska. On appeal, the State agrees he was entitled to additional credit under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 83-1,106(1) (Reissue 2014). Because the record establishes that Rivera-Meister was entitled to addi- tional credit, we modify the sentence accordingly. We other- wise affirm. BACKGROUND In August 2016, the 16-month-old child of Rivera-Meister’s girlfriend was fatally injured while in Rivera-Meister’s care. Rivera-Meister called the 911 emergency dispatch service and told first responders the child fell and struck his head jump- ing from a bunk bed. Treating doctors opined that the child’s injuries were inconsistent with such a fall, and an autopsy con- cluded the child died from abusive closed head injuries. Criminal Charge, Extradition, and Plea In 2017, prosecutors in Hall County charged Rivera-Meister with intentional child abuse resulting in death, a Class IB felony, 1 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Law enforce- ment eventually located Rivera-Meister living in Guatemala, and in June 2021, he was taken into custody by Guatemalan authorities and held for extradition to Nebraska. On March 23, 2022, he was returned to Nebraska and lodged in the Hall County jail on the subject charge. Rivera-Meister was 1 Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-707(8) (Reissue 2016). - 167 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 318 Nebraska Reports STATE V. RIVERA-MEISTER Cite as 318 Neb. 164

appointed counsel and bond was set, but he never bonded out of jail. In November 2023, shortly before trial was scheduled to begin, Rivera-Meister agreed to plead no contest to an amended information charging one count of attempted intentional child abuse resulting in death, a Class II felony. 2 In exchange, the State agreed not to file additional criminal charges and agreed to withdraw pending motions to revoke Rivera-Meister’s pro- bation in several unrelated cases. The district court accepted the no contest plea and found Rivera-Meister guilty of attempted intentional child abuse resulting in death.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
318 Neb. 164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rivera-meister-neb-2024.