George William Nulph v. Vern Faatz, Chairman, Oregon State Board of Parole
Opinion
Opinion
George William Nulph, an Oregon state prisoner, appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . Nulph claims that the Oregon State Board of Parole violated the Ex Post Facto Clause when it set his release date in accordance with statutes and regulations adopted after the date of his offense. Because the Board retrospectively applied a statute which significantly increased Nulph’s parole matrix range, we reverse.
I.
On November 5, 1986, George William Nulph was convicted in state court of multiple felony counts (including one count of being an ex-convict in possession of a firearm), all related to a kidnapping and rape he committed on May 2 of that year. The trial court found Nulph to be a dangerous offender under Or.Rev.Stat. § 161.725, and sentenced him to seven 30-year terms and to a five-year term on the firearms charge. It also imposed a 15-year minimum term on each count other than the firearms conviction. The court ordered that five of the 30-year terms, as well as the five-year term, were to run consecutively. Thus, the court imposed a maximum sentence of 155 years, with a minimum term of 75 years.