State Codes and Statutes

Statutes > Nebraska > Chapter83 > 83-1_105_01

83-1,105.01. Indeterminate sentence; court; duties; study of offender; when; costs.Except when a term of life imprisonment without parole is required by law, in imposing an indeterminate sentence upon an offender the court shall:(1) Fix the minimum and maximum limits of the sentence to be served within the limits provided by law for any class of felony other than a Class IV felony, except that when a maximum limit of life is imposed by the court for a Class IB felony, the minimum limit may be any term of years not less than the statutory mandatory minimum. If the criminal offense is a Class IV felony, the court shall fix the minimum and maximum limits of the sentence, but the minimum limit fixed by the court shall not be less than the minimum provided by law nor more than one-third of the maximum term and the maximum limit shall not be greater than the maximum provided by law;(2) Impose a definite term of years, in which event the maximum term of the sentence shall be the term imposed by the court and the minimum term shall be the minimum sentence provided by law; or(3)(a) When the court is of the opinion that imprisonment may be appropriate but desires more detailed information as a basis for determining the sentence to be imposed than has been provided by the presentence report required by section 29-2261, the court shall commit an offender to the Department of Correctional Services for a period not exceeding ninety days. The department shall conduct a complete study of the offender during that time, inquiring into such matters as his or her previous delinquency or criminal experience, social background, capabilities, and mental, emotional, and physical health and the rehabilitative resources or programs which may be available to suit his or her needs. By the expiration of the period of commitment or by the expiration of such additional time as the court shall grant, not exceeding a further period of ninety days, the offender shall be returned to the court for sentencing and the court shall be provided with a written report of the results of the study, including whatever recommendations the department believes will be helpful to a proper resolution of the case. After receiving the report and the recommendations, the court shall proceed to sentence the offender in accordance with any applicable provision of law. The term of the sentence shall run from the date of original commitment under this subdivision.(b) In order to encourage the use of this procedure in appropriate cases, all costs incurred during the period the offender is held in a state institution under this subdivision shall be the responsibility of the state and the county shall be liable only for the cost of delivering the offender to the institution and the cost of returning him or her to the appropriate court for sentencing or such other disposition as the court may then deem appropriate. SourceLaws 1997, LB 364, § 20; Laws 2002, Third Spec. Sess., LB 1, § 17.AnnotationsBy their terms, this section and section 29-2204 govern indeterminate sentences, and they are inapplicable to a criminal defendant's determinate sentence. State v. White, 256 Neb. 536, 590 N.W.2d 863 (1999).Where a criminal statute was amended by mitigating the minimum term of a Class IV felony indeterminate sentence after the defendant committed the crime, but before final judgment was rendered on direct appeal, the punishment was that provided by the amendatory act, since the Legislature did not specifically state otherwise. State v. Urbano, 256 Neb. 194, 589 N.W.2d 144 (1999).