Little

I.

BACKGROUND1

In early 1990, Little was charged with multiple counts of sexual assault of his daughter and son.2 Little decided to plea guilty. After a lengthy plea canvass, Little pled to sexually assaulting his daughter, and forcing his son to have sex with his daughter. Little also admitted to committing these acts when his children were under 14. In exchange, the state prom- ised to dismiss four other counts at sentencing.

At the time of Little’s offense, under Nevada Revised Stat- utes (“NRS”) 176.185(1), a person convicted of sexual assault was ineligible for probation. See 1989 Nev. Stat., ch. 790, § 11, at 1887.3 The statutory sentence was life with the possi- bility of parole in ten years. In October 1990, Little was sen- tenced to two consecutive life terms with the possibility of parole after ten years.

Little did not directly appeal his conviction. Instead, in 1991, Little filed a state petition for post-conviction relief in the Nevada state district court. There, as related to this appeal, he claimed that his plea was not knowing and voluntary because he was not advised his offense was non-probational. The Nevada state district court denied Little’s claim because…