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In the Courts

BY ALM Staff
July 29, 2004

Supreme Court Holds That Washington's Sentencing Scheme Was Unconstitutional As Applied

In Blakely v. Washington, 2004 WL 1402697 (June 24, 2004), the Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that the sentence imposed on Blakely pursuant to Washington's sentencing statute violated the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury, because Blakely's sentence was higher than the maximum authorized by Blakely's guilty plea to second degree kidnapping, standing by itself. Instead, the sentence was impermissibly increased by the judge's finding at sentencing that Blakely had committed the crime to which he had pleaded guilty with 'deliberate cruelty,' a finding that Blakely contested and which had not been found by the jury.

Washington's sentencing scheme provides that convictions for class B felonies (including second-degree kidnapping) may not be punished by sentences exceeding 10 years. Washington's Sentencing Reform Act also provides, however, that second-degree kidnapping with a firearm, a class B felony, should result in a sentence within a standard range of 49-53 months. The statute further states that a judge may impose a sentence above the standard range only if there are 'substantial and compelling reasons justifying an exception sentence,' which can include a number of illustrative aggravating factors including 'deliberate cruelty.' Because the sentencing court found that Blakely had acted with such cruelty, the court imposed a sentence of 90 months. The Washington Supreme Court denied discretionary review of Blakely's appeal of his sentence.

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