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Woods v. State5/19/1998
-52, 655 P.2d at 155. The defendant received consecutive six-year sentences on the two counts. Id.
On appeal, the defendant urged this court to follow California case law holding that violation of the drunk driving law constituted only one offense; therefore, only one sentence could be imposed regardless of the number of victims. Id. at 554-55, 655 P.2d at 157. The California case of People v. Lobaugh, 95 Cal. Rptr. 547 (Ct. App. 1971) reasoned:
Id. at 549-50 (quoting People v. Chatham, 110 P.2d 704, 706 (Cal. Ct. App. 1941)).
In affirming the defendant's conviction and sentence, this court opined:
The California cases depart from the usual rule, long established in Nevada, that a course of conduct resulting in harm to multiple victims gives rise to multiple charges of the offense. See State v. Lambert, 9 Nev. 321 (1874).
Appellant urges us to apply the Lobaugh court's reasoning to NRS 484.3795 because Nevada's statute is similar to California's. We fail to perceive that this is a compelling reason to adopt the Lobaugh court's rationale. We believe that the Lobaugh court too narrowly defines the public policy concerns underlying drunken driving statutes. We are convinced that the state is concerned with both the "causing" and "receiving" of the injuries which the legislature has sought to minimize. We therefore uphold the conviction of the two felony counts.
Calvan, 98 Nev. at 555, 655 P.2d at 157-58.
It is true that " court should normally presume that a legislature did not intend multiple punishments for the same offense absent a clear expression of legislative intent to the contrary." Talancon v. State, 102 Nev. 294, 300, 721 P.2d 764, 768 (1986). However, the instant case does not involve a single offense; in Galvan we expressly held that multiple victims give rise to multiple offenses under NRS 484.3795, and we have no desire to revisit this holding. Accordingly, Woods' reliance on Talancon is misplaced. We conclude that, pursuant to Galvan, the district court did not err by imposing consecutive sentences on Woods for each count of felony DUI.
Conclusion
We conclude that Woods was estopped from challenging the lawfulness of the plea agreement pursuant to NRS 484.3795(2), and that the district court did not err in denying Woods' motion to withdraw his plea. We further conclude that there was no error in imposing consecutive sentences for each of the two counts of felony DUI. Woods' conviction and sentences are affirmed.
Springer, C.J.
Rose, J.
Young, J.
Maupin, J.
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