Robert Maxwell Kelch v. Director, Nevada Department of Prisons, and Ron Angelone
Opinion
Opinion
Thompson, J.
This is an appeal from the district court’s denial of a petition for habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1988). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1988), and we affirm. We hold that the Nevada Board of Pardons Commissioners (“the Board”) did not deny Robert Maxwell Kelch, a Nevada state prisoner, substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment when it rescinded its earlier commutation of his sentence.
FACTS
In 1985, Kelch pleaded guilty to second degree murder of his wife. The trial court sentenced him to twenty years in prison, the maximum penalty for this offense under Nevada law. After he had served two years, he applied .to the Nevada Board of Pardons Commissioners for a pardon or commutation of his sentence. At the request of Kelch’s attorney, a Board member scheduled a hearing for May 12, 1987. Although notice was sent to the district attorney one day after the hearing was scheduled, the chosen date gave the district attorney only twelve days notice of the hearing, instead of the thirty days prescribed by statute. No Board member made an explicit determination that there was “good cause” to reduce the notice period.