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Hard-fifty cert petition denied, again.

By Randall Hodgkinson

The SCOTUS denied Sarah Johnson's cert petition in Johnson v. Kansas, which sought, in part, to apply Apprendi to minimum sentences (i.e. reverse Harris v. U.S., 536 U.S. 545 (2002)). Here is the SCOTUS order. The SCOTUS had ordered the state to respond and had set the matter over for a second conference date, but denied cert on Monday. This is a recurring issue. A little over a year ago, the SCOTUS did the exact same thing--show enough interest to require a response by the state, but then deny the petition. (Here is my previous blog entry, which you will see is quite similar). Some commentators think there will be some push eventually to get the SCOTUS to take a mandatory minimum sentence case. So keep raising that in every hard-fifty case.

Full post as published by Kansas Defenders on January 10, 2008 (boomark / email).