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Criminal Procedure Keyed to Ohlin
Blakely v. Washington
Citation:
542 U.S. 296 (2004)Facts
Petitioner married his wife Yolanda in 1983. The State charged petitioner with first-degree kidnapping of his wife. Upon reaching a plea agreement, it reduced the charge to second-degree kidnapping. The case then proceeded to sentencing. In Washington, second-degree kidnapping is a class B felony, punishable by confinement exceeding a term of ten years. Other provisions of state law further limit the range of sentences a judge may impose. Pursuant to the plea agreement, the State recommended a sentence within the standard range of 49 to 53 months. The judge, however, rejected the State’s recommendation and imposed an exception sentence of 90 months, justifying the sentence on the ground that petitioner had acted with deliberate cruelty. Petitioner appealed, arguing that this sentencing procedure deprived him of his federal constitutional right to have a jury determine beyond a reasonable doubt all facts legally essential to his sentence.
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