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Cunningham Sequel Tomorrow

By Kent Scheidegger et al.

Tomorrow, the California Supreme Court will announce its decision in People v. Towne, S125677. This case is another sequel to Cunningham v. California, 549 U.S. 270 (2007), the case that applied the rule of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000) to California's three-tier determinate sentencing system. The questions presented are after the jump. (1) Do Cunningham v. California, supra, and Almendarez-Torres v. United States (1998) 523 U.S. 224, 239-247, permit the trial judge to sentence defendant to the upper term based on any or all of the following aggravating factors, without submitting them to a jury: the defendant's prior convictions as an adult are numerous and of increasing seriousness; the defendant has served a prior prison term; the defendant was on parole when the crime was committed; the defendant's prior performance on probation or parole was unsatisfactory (California Rules of Court, Rule 4...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime and Consequences on June 25, 2008 (boomark / email).