207.016 - Procedure; trial of primary offense; prior convictions.
207.016 Procedure; trial of primary offense; prior convictions.
1. A conviction pursuant to NRS 207.010, 207.012 or 207.014 operates only to increase, not to reduce, the sentence otherwise provided by law for the principal crime.
2. If a count pursuant to NRS 207.010, 207.012 or 207.014 is included in an information charging the primary offense, each previous conviction must be alleged in the accusatory pleading, but no such conviction may be alluded to on trial of the primary offense, nor may any allegation of the conviction be read in the presence of a jury trying the offense or a grand jury considering an indictment for the offense. A count pursuant to NRS 207.010, 207.012 or 207.014 may be separately filed after conviction of the primary offense, but if it is so filed, sentence must not be imposed, or the hearing required by subsection 3 held, until 15 days after the separate filing.
3. If a defendant charged pursuant to NRS 207.010, 207.012 or 207.014 pleads guilty or guilty but mentally ill to, or is found guilty or guilty but mentally ill of, the primary offense but denies any previous conviction charged, the court shall determine the issue of the previous conviction after hearing all relevant evidence presented on the issue by the prosecution and the defendant. At such a hearing, the defendant may not challenge the validity of a previous conviction. The court shall impose sentence:
(a) Pursuant to NRS 207.010 upon finding that the defendant has suffered previous convictions sufficient to support an adjudication of habitual criminality;
(b) Pursuant to NRS 207.012 upon finding that the defendant has suffered previous convictions sufficient to support an adjudication of habitual felon; or
(c) Pursuant to NRS 207.014 upon finding that the defendant has suffered previous convictions sufficient to support an adjudication of habitually fraudulent felon.
4. Nothing in the provisions of this section, NRS 207.010, 207.012 or 207.014 limits the prosecution in introducing evidence of prior convictions for purposes of impeachment.
5. For the purposes of NRS 207.010, 207.012 and 207.014, a certified copy of a felony conviction is prima facie evidence of conviction of a prior felony.
6. Nothing in the provisions of this section, NRS 207.010, 207.012 or 207.014 prohibits a court from imposing an adjudication of habitual criminality, adjudication of habitual felon or adjudication of habitually fraudulent felon based upon a stipulation of the parties.
(Added to NRS by 1995, 1238; A 1997, 519, 524, 1186; 2003, 1483; 2007, 1441)