Deckard v. Cotton

Summary

The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed denial of Deckard’s mandamus petition because neither the 1971 nor the 2018 parole statutes imposed a clear ministerial duty on the Board of Parole to set a discharge date for a person serving a life sentence. Under the earlier statutes, discharge was discretionary; under the later statutes, the mathematical calculation could not be performed because a life sentence has no quantifiable maximum term. The court also held that applying the 2018 provisions did not violate ex post facto principles because Deckard had no absolute right to a parole discharge date and the amendment did not create a sufficient risk of increased punishment.