ANGELO DWAINE JOHNSON v. THE STATE OF NEVADA (2023)

ORDER OF AFFIRMANCE

Angelo Dwaine Johnson appeals from a judgment of conviction, entered pursuant to a guilty plea, of ownership or possession of firearm by prohibited person. Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County; Bita Yeager, Judge.

Johnson argues the district court committed misconduct at sentencing.¹ Because Johnson did not object to the alleged misconduct, we may review only for plain error. See Oade v. State, 114 Nev. 619, 622, 960 P.2d 336, 338 (1998) (allowing for plain error review and recognizing that counsel does not always challenge a judge's behavior “for fear of antagonizing [the judge] and thereby prejudicing a client's case” (internal quotation marks omitted)). Johnson fails to identify any error at sentencing “so unmistakable that it is apparent from a casual inspection of the record,” Martinorellan v. State, 131 Nev. 43, 49, 343 P.3d 590, 593 (2015) (quotation marks omitted), or that affected his substantial rights, see Jeremias v. State, 134 Nev. 46, 51, 412 P.3d 43. 49 (2018) (providing that “a plain error affects a defendant's substantial rights when it causes actual prejudice or a miscarriage of justice”). Accordingly, we

ORDER the judgment of conviction AFFIRMED.

Gibbons, C.J

Bulla, J.

Westbrook, J.

FOOTNOTES

1.   The State argues that Johnson's guilty plea agreement waived his ability to challenge the sentencing proceedings. Like the waiver clause at issue in Aldape v. State, 139 Nev., Adv. Op. 42, 535 P.3d 1184 (2023), Johnson's waiver clause provided that he waived a direct appeal of his conviction but did not waive the ability to appeal from alleged errors related to his sentence. See id. at 1189-90. For the reasons discussed in Aldape, we conclude that Johnson's guilty plea did not waive his ability to raise this claim on appeal.