Greene (Marshall) v. State ( 2015 )

 Therefore, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion
by denying the motion. See Crawford, 117 Nev. at 721, 30 P.3d at 1125. 1
Next, appellant contends that the district court abused its
discretion at sentencing, resulting in a cruel and unusual sentence,
because he turned himself in for the crime, indicated remorse, and sought
to better himself in prison. 2 We disagree. Regardless of its severity, a
sentence 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 that Eighth Amendment does not require
strict proportionality between crime and sentence; it forbids only an
extreme sentence that is grossly disproportionate to the crime). Here, the
sentence imposed is within the parameters provided by the relevant
statutes, see NRS 193.165; NRS 200.030(4)(b), and appellant does not
allege that those statutes are unconstitutional. Moreover, the sentence is
not grossly disproportionate to the crime. Accordingly to appellant, he
cheated on his girlfriend and she left him. When she returned the next
'We reject appellant's contention that we should consider claims
disavowed by counsel at the evidentiary hearing. We note that appellant
did not testify at the evidentiary hearing and therefore cannot
demonstrate that his plea was involuntary.
2Appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole and a consecutive term of 8 to 20 years' incarceration.
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day to apologize, appellant mercilessly beat her with a belt. The victim
told appellant she could not breathe and appellant told her he did not care.
The victim died as a result of internal injuries she sustained in the
beating. Therefore, we conclude that no relief is warranted on this claim.
Having considered appellant's contentions and concluded that
they lack merit, we
ORDER the judgment of conviction AFFIRMED.
Gibbons
J.
Pickering
cc: Hon. James M. Bixler, District Judge
Law Office of Kristina Wildeveld
Attorney General/Carson City
Clark County District Attorney
Eighth District Court Clerk
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