Source: http://ny.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20070322_0000332.ENY.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2016-12-04 06:23:37
Document Index: 565558592

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 400', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 400', '§ 1257', '§ 2254', '§ 2254', '§ 160', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§70', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 400', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 400', '§ 3553', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 400', '§ 3553', '§ 70', '§ 470', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 400', '§ 70', '§ 400', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 2254', '§ 70', '§ 70', '§ 400']

| Portalatin v. Graham
CARLOS PORTALATIN, PETITIONER,v.HAROLD GRAHAM, SUPERINTENDENT, AUBURN CORRECTIONAL FACILITY, RESPONDENT.
The prosecutor requested that Portalatin be sentenced as a persistent felony offender. New York's discretionary persistent felony offender statute, N.Y. Penal Law § 70.10, allows -- but does not require -- a sentencing court to impose a class A-I felony sentence (rather than the sentence otherwise available for the offense of conviction) when the court (1) has found "that a person is a persistent felony offender," and (2) "is of the opinion that the history and character of the defendant and the nature and circumstances of his criminal conduct indicate that extended incarceration and life-time supervision will best serve the public interest." N.Y. Penal Law § 70.10(2). The permissive nature of the enhanced penalty accounts for the fact that § 70.10 is known as the "discretionary" persistent felony offender provision.*fn1
As discussed in more detail below, before an enhanced sentence may be imposed pursuant to § 70.10, the prosecution must first prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is a persistent felony offender, that is, that he or she has previously been convicted of two or more felonies. N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 400.20(5).*fn2 If the sentencing court finds that the defendant is a persistent felony offender, it "must then make such findings of fact as it deems relevant to the question of whether a persistent felony offender sentence is warranted," § 400.20(9), i.e., whether the history and character of the defendant and the nature and circumstances of his or her criminal conduct indicate that extended incarceration of the defendant will best serve the public interest. The prosecutor must prove the facts that pertain to the history and character of the defendant and the nature and circumstances of his or her criminal conduct by a preponderance of the evidence. Id. Only after making the required factual findings on the record may a court impose an enhanced sentence pursuant to § 70.10(2). Id. If a court terminates a persistent felony offender hearing without making the "necessary findings," the defendant may not be sentenced as a persistent felony offender. § 400.20(10).
Portalatin's previous felonies were (1) a 1995 conviction for attempted burglary in the second degree, and (2) a 1998 conviction for attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth degree. At the sentencing hearing on April 28, 2003, Portalatin did not challenge the existence or the constitutionality of these convictions, and the court found that he "appear[ed] to be eligible for discretionary persistent felony offender adjudication" on that basis.
S.Tr. 8-9.*fn3
Portalatin appealed his conviction, arguing that (1) the prosecutor committed misconduct during the trial; (2) his sentence violated the jury trial principle set forth in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 446 (2000), Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002), and Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 (2004); and (3) the sentencing judge did not follow the procedures required by § 400.20. On May 16, 2005, the Appellate Division affirmed Portalatin's judgment of conviction. People v. Portalatin, 795 N.Y.S.2d 334 (2d Dep't 2005). The court found that the prosecutorial misconduct claim was unpreserved for appellate review and without merit, since "the prosecutor's questions and remarks were entirely within the bounds of fair comment." Id. at 334. The court also rejected both claims related to the sentence as "unpreserved for appellate review and, in any event, without merit." Id. On July 6, 2005, the New York Court of Appeals denied Portalatin leave to appeal from the decision of the Appellate Division. People v. Portalatin, 3 N.Y.3d 793 (2005) (Ciparick, J.). Portalatin did not file a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court .
The Appellate Division rejected Portalatin's claim as both unpreserved for appellate review and lacking in merit. 795 N.Y.S.2d at 334. The use of the conjunctive in the habeas setting is critical. Had the court used "or" instead, its ruling would have to be considered solely a decision on the merits. See Fama v. Comm'r of Corr. Servs., 235 F.3d 804, 810 (2d Cir. 2000). But the state court holding here qualifies as a conclusion that the claim was procedurally defaulted, which potentially has special consequences on habeas review. See Harris v. Reed, 489 U.S. 255, 264 n.10 (1989) ("a state court need not fear reaching the merits of a federal claim in an alternative holding" so long as it explicitly invokes a state procedural rule as a separate basis for its decision); Fama, 535 F.3d at 810 n.4.
As a general matter, the Supreme Court of the United States will not consider an issue of federal law on review of a state court judgment if that judgment also rests on an adequate and independent state ground. This doctrine, which can deprive the Supreme Court of jurisdiction to review a state court judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 1257, has been imported into the habeas context as a matter of comity to limit the availability of habeas relief where the federal claim has been procedurally defaulted in state court. See Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 730-32 (1991). Because a procedural default under state law constitutes an adequate and independent state ground for deciding the claim against the petitioner, federalism concerns permit a federal habeas court to review a procedurally barred claim on the merits only if the petitioner shows cause for the default and actual prejudice as a result of the alleged violation of federal law, or demonstrates that a failure to consider the claim will result in a fundamental miscarriage of justice. Id. at 750.
AEDPA narrowed the scope of federal habeas review of state convictions where the state court has adjudicated a petitioner's federal claim on the merits. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Under the AEDPA standard, federal habeas relief may be granted only if the state court's decision "was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1).*fn4
The Supreme Court has interpreted the phrase "clearly established Federal law" to mean "the holdings, as opposed to the dicta, of [the Supreme] Court's decisions as of the time of the relevant state-court decision." Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 412 (2000); see also Gilchrist v. O'Keefe, 260 F.3d 87, 93 (2d Cir. 2001).
A decision is "contrary to" federal law "if the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by [the Supreme] Court on a question of law or if the state court decides a case differently than [the Supreme] Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable facts." Williams, 529 U.S. at 413. A decision is an "unreasonable application" of clearly established Supreme Court law if a state court "identifies the correct governing legal principle from [the Supreme] Court's decisions but unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of [a] prisoner's case." Id. "Under the latter standard, 'a federal habeas court may not issue the writ simply because that court concludes in its independent judgment that the relevant state-court decision applied clearly established federal law erroneously or incorrectly. Rather, that application must also be unreasonable.'" Gilchrist, 260 F.3d at 93 (quoting Williams, 529 U.S. at 411). Interpreting Williams, the Second Circuit has added that although "[s]ome increment of incorrectness beyond error is required . . . the increment need not be great; otherwise, habeas relief would be limited to state court decisions so far off the mark as to suggest judicial incompetence." Francis S. v. Stone, 221 F.3d 100, 111 (2d Cir. 2000) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Portalatin argues that the persistent felony offender statute at issue here violates the Sixth Amendment principle that any fact (other than the fact of a prior conviction) that increases the penalty for a crime must either be admitted by the defendant or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Portalatin was convicted of kidnapping in the second degree and robbery in the first degree, both class B felonies. See N.Y. Penal Law §§ 160.15(4); 135.20. The maximum sentence he faced on each of those counts was 25 years. See Id. § 70.00(2) ("For a class B felony, the term shall be fixed by the court, and shall not exceed twenty-five years.") (emphasis added). The minimum sentence Portalatin faced would also have been fixed by the court, and would not have been "less than one year nor more than one-third of the maximum term imposed." Id. § 70.00(3)(b).*fn5 The application of §70.10 increased the maximum penalty for Portalatin's crime to life, and Portalatin was sentenced on each count to an indeterminate prison term that could reach that maximum. As discussed below, that sentence was based on facts found by the sentencing judge during the sentencing proceeding, that is, facts (other than the fact of Portalatin's prior convictions) that were neither admitted by him nor presented to the jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
We should be clear that nothing in this history [of the common law of sentencing] suggests that it is impermissible for judges to exercise discretion -- taking into consideration various facts relating both to offense and offender -- in imposing a judgment within the range prescribed by statute. We have often noted that judges in this country have long exercised discretion of this nature in imposing sentence within statutory limits in the individual case.
In specific reliance on that language and on the fact that Apprendi's sentence exceeded the maximum sentence set forth in the criminal statute he violated, the Second Circuit rejected Sixth Amendment challenges to upward adjustments of federal Guidelines ranges based on facts found not by juries, but by judges. See United States v. Garcia, 240 F.3d 180, 182-84 (2d Cir. 2001); see also United States v. Norris, 281 F.3d 357, 360-61 (2d Cir. 2002) ("Apprendi itself governs if a factual determination results in a sentence that exceeds a statutory maximum . . . . [W]e do not believe [the Guidelines] ranges are statutory maximums for purposes of applying the rule of Apprendi."). Every other court of appeals to address the issue agreed with that reading and application of Apprendi. See Garcia, 240 F.3d at 184 (citing cases).
Id. at 303-04.*fn6
Furthermore, Apprendi and Blakely make it clear that impermissible "factfindings" for Sixth Amendment purposes include generalized assessments of offenders as well as more specific factual determinations about offenses. See Blakely, 542 U.S. at 305 ("Whether the judge's authority to impose an enhanced sentence depends on finding a specified fact (as in Apprendi ), one of several specified facts (as in Ring ), or any aggravating fact (as here), it remains the case that the jury's verdict alone does not authorize the sentence."). That is because any finding that "if found, exposes the criminal defendant to a penalty exceeding the maximum he would receive if punished according to the facts reflected in the jury verdict alone," Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 483, violates the Sixth Amendment.
However, § 70.10 further requires that the court be "of the opinion that the history and character of the defendant and the nature and circumstances of his criminal conduct indicate that extended incarceration and life-time supervision will best serve the public interest." § 70.10(2). This second finding must be announced formally and "set forth in the record." Id. According to the statute, only after making both findings is the court authorized, "in lieu of imposing the sentence of imprisonment" otherwise authorized, to impose the sentence of imprisonment authorized for a class A-I felony. Id.*fn7
Id. (emphasis added).The court can, in its sole discretion and at any time, stop the hearing "without making any finding." § 400.20(10). However, "the defendant may not be sentenced as a persistent felony offender" unless the court "makes the necessary findings." Id. (emphasis added).*fn8
Section 70.10 violates the Sixth Amendment because it allows judges to enhance a criminal defendant's sentence beyond what the jury verdict alone would allow if, and only if, such enhancement is supported by judicial findings other than the fact of prior convictions. These findings related to the history and character of the defendant and the nature and circumstances of his or her criminal conduct are "factfindings" for Apprendi purposes, since they "expose[] the criminal defendant to a penalty exceeding the maximum he would receive if punished according to the facts reflected in the jury verdict alone," Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 483. That the statute uses the term "opinion" to describe the end result of the second part of the process means little, for "the relevant inquiry is one not of form, but of effect," Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 494, and the effect of New York law is to condition the enhanced sentence under § 70.10 on findings of fact made by the sentencing court by a preponderance of the evidence. The statutes themselves could not be clearer on this point. See § 400.20(9) (the sentencing court must "make such findings of fact as it deems relevant to the question of whether a persistent felony offender sentence is warranted").
But Portalatin was eligible for a life sentence in precisely the same way the defendant in Ring had become eligible for a death sentence upon being found guilty of first degree murder by a jury. In Ring, a "statutory provision requir[ed] the finding of an aggravating circumstance before imposition of the death penalty." Ring, 536 U.S. at 604. In light of that requirement, Arizona's claim that the defendant was sentenced within the range authorized by the jury's verdict was rejected, for it would reduce Apprendi to a "'meaningless and formalistic' rule of statutory drafting." Ring, 536 U.S. at 604 (quoting Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 541 (O'Connor, J., dissenting)). Respondent's argument that the finding of two convictions, by itself, subjects defendants to an enhanced sentence under § 70.10 suffers from the same fatal defect. As in Ring, a state statute, § 400.20, sets forth procedures, including required factfindings, "that must be followed in order to impose the persistent offender sentence authorized by subdivision two of section 70.10." § 400.20(1). Defendants with two qualifying prior convictions may be eligible for extended jail terms and lifetime supervision, but they cannot receive such punishments absent something more. That something more -- judicial factfindings relevant to the question whether a persistent felony offender sentence is warranted -- violates their right to trial by jury of all facts essential to the enhanced punishment.
The New York Court of Appeals first addressed § 70.10's impact on a defendant's jury trial right in People v. Rosen, 96 N.Y.2d 329 (2001), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 899 (2001), which flatly rejected an Apprendi challenge to a persistent felony offender sentence. In Rosen, a jury convicted the defendant of first degree sexual abuse, a class D felony with a maximum sentence of seven years, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. 96 N.Y.2d at 333. The court imposed an enhanced sentence of 25 years to life pursuant to § 70.10. Id. On appeal, the defendant argued that his enhanced sentence violated his rights to trial by jury and to an indictment setting forth the charge against him. Id. at 333-34. In rejecting the claim, the court concluded that "[i]t is clear from the . . . statutory framework that the prior felony convictions are the sole determinate [sic] of whether a defendant is subject to enhanced sentencing as a persistent felony offender." Id. at 335 (emphasis added). As for the factual findings required by the second element of the statute, the Court of Appeals stated that the sentencing court is "only fulfilling its traditional role -- giving due consideration to agreed-upon factors -- in determining an appropriate sentence within the permissible statutory range." Id.
In Brown v. Greiner, 409 F.3d 523 (2d Cir. 2005), the Second Circuit reversed a judgment granting a writ of habeas corpus to a petitioner sentenced pursuant to § 70.10. The issue before the court was whether the state court's rejection of a Sixth Amendment challenge to the statute was contrary to the then-clearly established law regarding the Sixth Amendment limits on sentence enhancements. Though Brown was decided in 2005, almost a year after the Supreme Court decided Blakely, the caselaw relevant to the state court's review of the sentence at issue pre-dated Blakely. Thus, the Second Circuit specifically excluded Blakely and any subsequent cases from its consideration. 409 F.3d at 533-34.*fn9
So constrained, Brown found Rosen's rejection of the Sixth Amendment challenge to § 70.10 to be a not-unreasonable application of Apprendi. The Second Circuit specifically adopted Rosen's reasoning that the "factfindings" required by New York law with respect to "the history and character of the defendant and the nature and circumstances of his criminal conduct" are different in kind from the findings of fact traditionally submitted to juries. Id. at 534. Unlike the invidious motivation in Apprendi, which the court termed "an essential element, or functional equivalent" of the offense of conviction, "[t]he second determination to be made under New York's persistent felony offender statute is of a very different sort. It is a vague, amorphous assessment of whether, in the court's 'opinion,' 'extended incarceration and life-time supervision' of the defendant 'will best serve the public interest.'" Id. (citing § 70.10(2)).
Brown further observed that § 70.10 "does not enumerate any specific facts that must be found by the sentencing court before it can conclude that the extended sentence is in the public's 'best . . . interest.'" Id. at 535. According to Brown, the New York Court of Appeals reasonably concluded "that such determinations regarding the defendant's history, character, and offense fall into a different category from the essential statutory elements of heightened sentencing, or functional equivalents thereof, that were addressed by the Supreme Court's Apprendi ruling." Id.
Neither Rosen nor Brown constitutes a basis for the denial of habeas relief here. Rosen posits a world in which factfindings necessary to imposition of an enhanced sentence --beyond the prior convictions that render the defendant merely eligible for one -- may be allocated between judge and jury by reference to the "traditional roles" of each. As elaborated upon by Brown, in that world, offense elements or their "functional equivalents" must be submitted to juries, but "amorphous" determinations regarding a defendant's history and character, and whether extended incarceration and life-time supervision are necessary, may properly be made by a preponderance of the evidence by judges. I accept, as I must, Brown's holding that such a world constitutes a not-unreasonable application of Apprendi, but I think it clear that it is now contrary to (and objectively unreasonable in light of) Ring and Blakely.
In Ring, "the Supreme Court, in overruling Walton [v. Arizona, 497 U.S. 639 (1990)], . . . for the first time [made] clear that all facts (other than recidivism) that must be found in order to increase a sentence beyond the maximum -- regardless of whether they relate to the defendant's threshold eligibility for the increased sentence -- must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt." People v. Rivera, 5 N.Y.3d 61, 72 (2005) (Kaye, C.J., dissenting), cert. denied, 126 S.Ct. 564 (2005).
That the foregoing was clearly established by Ring and Blakely was confirmed by the Supreme Court's recent decision in Cunningham v. California, 127 S.Ct. 856 (2007). Cunningham invalidated California's determinate sentencing law, which authorized an enhanced, "upper term" sentence only upon the sentencing judge's finding of "circumstances in aggravation," defined by law as "facts" other than elements of the offense of conviction. 127 S.Ct. at 860. In upholding that regime against a Sixth Amendment challenge, the California Supreme Court employed reasoning identical to the reasoning of Rosen and Brown. Specifically, the California court had found a constitutionally significant distinction between a sentencing scheme that permits judges to engage in the type of judicial factfinding typically and traditionally involved in the exercise of judicial discretion employed in selecting a sentence from within the range prescribed for an offense, and a sentencing scheme that assigns to judges the type of factfinding role traditionally exercised by juries in determining the existence or nonexistence of elements of an offense.
We cautioned in Blakely . . . that broad discretion to decide what facts may support an enhanced sentence, or to determine whether an enhanced sentence is warranted in any particular case, does not shield a sentencing system from the force of our decision. If the jury's verdict alone does not authorize the sentence, if, instead, the judge must find an additional fact to impose the longer term, the Sixth Amendment requirement is not satisfied. Cunningham, 127 S.Ct. at 869 (citing Blakely, 542 U.S. at 305, and n.8).*fn10
Similarly, Blakely makes clear that Brown's reliance on the fact that § 70.10 "does not enumerate any specific facts that must be found by the sentencing court before it can conclude that the extended sentence is in the public's 'best . . . interest,'" Brown, 409 F.3d at 535 (emphasis added), was misplaced. The state made the same argument in Blakely, attempting to distinguish the sentencing provisions in Apprendi and Ring, which specified the eligible aggravating factors. The Supreme Court found this distinction to be "immaterial." Blakely, 542 U.S. at 305. As discussed above, the Court emphasized that the Sixth Amendment right is implicated when the finding of "some additional fact" -- whether it be a specified fact or "any aggravating fact" -- is necessary to authorize a sentence beyond what the jury verdict alone would allow. Id.
In sum, respondent finds no support in either Rosen or Brown.*fn11 Respondent concedes that, unlike Brown, the landscape of clearly established law in this case includes Blakely. Rosen's holding that the factfindings required by § 70.10 and § 400.20 escape Sixth Amendment scrutiny because they fall within the traditional role of judges cannot be squared with Blakely.
But I see more in Rivera than respondent sees. Although it certainly reaffirmed Rosen (rather than overruling it), Rivera also appears to add to it. Edified by Ring, Blakely and Booker, which all came after Rosen, the New York Court of Appeals in Rivera did not merely rely on Rosen's analysis, it refined and added to that analysis in an effort to accommodate the intervening precedent. Like several other state high courts, the Court of Appeals tried gamely to retrofit a sentencing statute enacted decades ago into the rapidly developing Sixth Amendment doctrine.*fn12
Though Rivera is discussed in detail below, the effect of the case may be summarized as follows: whereas Rosen acknowledged that § 70.10 and § 400.20 condition the enhanced sentence on judicial factfindings, but found those factfindings to be of a type that may permissibly be assigned to judges, Rivera states that no such findings need be made at all, at least not in order to impose § 70.10's enhanced sentence. But Rivera leaves intact the factfindings mandated by § 70.10 and § 400.20, explaining that they are essential to the review of such sentences. "In practical terms," the court concluded, the legislative commands of the two statutes, and the findings they require regarding the defendant's "history and character" and the "nature and circumstances" of his conduct, "fall[] squarely within the most traditional discretionary sentencing role of the judge." Rivera, 5 N.Y.3d at 69.
In the end, Rivera does no more to remedy the constitutional defect in § 70.10 than did Rosen. Rivera raises questions concerning the deference owed to the Court of Appeals's interpretation of New York statutes and the deference owed under AEDPA to state court applications of federal law in reviewing convictions obtained in their courts. However, as discussed below, sentences imposed pursuant to § 70.10 violate the jury trial right of the defendant, and neither form of deference insulates respondent from a finding that the significant changes in the controlling doctrine in recent years have finally placed the discretionary persistent felony offender statute -- even as it is interpreted by Rivera -- in irreconcilable conflict with the Sixth Amendment.*fn13
That phase had actually begun earlier, with the court's filing of an order pursuant to § 400.20(3) directing a hearing to determine whether Rivera should be sentenced as a persistent felony offender.*fn14 As required by that provision, the order annexed a statement setting forth (a) two prior convictions, which rendered Rivera eligible for the enhanced sentence, and (b) the factors in his background and criminal past that the court deemed relevant to the prospect of extended incarceration and lifetime supervision. Attached to the statement were certificates of conviction for two of Rivera's prior stolen property felonies, one in 1993 and one in 1996. Among the factors alleged to bear on the history and character of Rivera, and the nature and circumstances of his criminal conduct, were the following: Rivera had used aliases; he had absconded from a work release program in 1994; he had violated parole three times; and he had numerous other convictions (three felonies and 14 misdemeanors), mostly for theft-related offenses.
The essential portions of the Court of Appeals's opinion are reproduced below: Under our interpretation of the relevant statutes, defendants are eligible for persistent felony offender sentencing based solely on whether they had two prior felony convictions. Thus, as we held in Rosen, no further findings are required. This conclusion takes defendant's sentence outside the scope of the violations described in Apprendi and its progeny. The Supreme Court has held that a judge (as opposed to a jury) may find the fact of a defendant's prior conviction without violating the Sixth Amendment (see Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 226-227 (1998). . . .
Here, the trial judge committed no Sixth Amendment violation by finding as fact that defendant had twice before suffered felony convictions.
Nevertheless, the relevant question under the United States Constitution is not whether those facts were essential to the trial court's opinion (CPL 400.20(1)(b)), but whether there are any facts other than the predicate convictions that must be found to make recidivist sentencing possible (see Blakely, 542 U.S. at 303-304). Our answer is no. As we explained in Rosen, the predicate felonies are both necessary and sufficient conditions for imposition of the authorized sentence for recidivism; that is why we pointedly called the predicate felonies the "sole" determinant (96 N.Y.2d at 335). By this unequivocal statement, we meant, and today confirm, that Criminal Procedure Law § 400.20 by authorizing a hearing on facts relating to the defendant's history and character, does not grant defendants a legal entitlement to have those facts receive controlling weight in influencing the court's opinion. The statutory language requiring the sentencing court to consider the specified factors and to articulate the reason for the chosen sentence grants defendants a right to an airing and an explanation, not a result.
In this respect, our statutes are quite similar to the federal sentencing statute, which requires federal sentencing courts to consider various factors, including "the history and characteristics of the defendant" (18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(1)). The Supreme Court recently upheld the statutory demand for sentencing courts to consider those factors, which do not require any jury factfinding (see Booker, 543 U.S. at 245-246 (op. of Breyer, J.)).
The court's opinion is, of course, subject to appellate review, as is any exercise of discretion. The Appellate Division, in its own discretion, may conclude that a persistent felony offender sentence is too harsh or otherwise improvident. In this way, the Appellate Division can and should mitigate inappropriately severe applications of the statute. A determination of that kind, however, is based not on the law but as an exercise of the Appellate Division's discretion in the interest of justice as reserved uniquely to that Court (CPL 470.20(6)).*fn15
The most important aspect of Rivera is that, despite its insistence that no factfindings (other than the fact of prior convictions) are necessary to make § 70.10's enhanced sentence possible, it leaves all of §§ 70.10 and 400.20 intact. Thus, those statutes still require that a defendant receive notice of the alleged facts (beyond the prior convictions) on which the enhanced sentence might be based, a hearing on the allegations the defendant disputes, and factfindings by a preponderance of the evidence by the sentencing court. The burden remains with the prosecutor, and the statutory requirement that the court "must . . . make such findings of fact as it deems relevant to the question of whether" the enhanced sentence is warranted is still in place. § 400.20(9).
Rivera could have excised the factfinding requirements of § 400.20(9) (just as Booker excised 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b)(1)), and if it had, § 70.10's enhanced sentence might well have become authorized without the necessity of judicial factfindings. Instead, the factfindings are still mandated by statute, and Rivera contains two rationales for its conclusion that they do not offend the Apprendi principle.
First, Rivera suggests that factfindings that are necessary for New York's "interest of justice" appellate review of sentences do not implicate the jury trial right. The court explained as follows: "The mandatory consideration and articulation of these factors is important in New York because . . . the Appellate Division itself exercises discretion in reviewing sentences and ameliorating harshness . . ." 5 N.Y.3d at 69. But the Apprendi principle, as discussed above, is one of effect, not form. If, as remains the case in New York even after Rivera, a judge's authority to impose an enhanced sentence arises only after he or she makes one or more findings of fact, the jury trial right is violated. The Supreme Court's recent decision in Cunningham demonstrates what was already established by Apprendi and Blakely, namely, that judicial factfindings cannot be rescued from Sixth Amendment scrutiny by characterizing them as merely grist for appellate review of sentences (for "reasonableness" in federal court or by reference to the "interest of justice" in New York, see N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 470.20). Appellate review of sentences must "operate[ ] within the Sixth Amendment constraints delineated by [Supreme Court] precedent, not as a substitute for those constraints." 127 S.Ct. at 859. Where, as here, a sentencing system "allocates to judges sole authority to find facts permitting the imposition of" an enhanced sentence, the system violates the Sixth Amendment. Id. at 870. It elevates form over substance to assert that the findings are required to facilitate appellate review but not to impose the sentence to begin with. "It is comforting, but beside the point," that New York's system allows sentence reductions on appeal in the interest of justice. Id. The point is that New York law continues to require that factfindings be made before the enhanced sentence is imposed.
That the sentencing court is not obligated to impose the enhanced sentence even if factual findings adverse to the defendant have been made appears to have mattered to the court in Rivera,*fn16 but it is irrelevant to the Sixth Amendment inquiry. As the Supreme Court observed in Blakely, it does not "matter that the judge must, after finding aggravating facts, make a judgment that they present a compelling ground for departure. . . . Whether judicially determined facts require a sentence enhancement or merely allow it, the verdict alone does not authorize the sentence." 542 U.S. at 305 n.8.
Rivera's second rationale merely perpetuates Rosen's dichotomy between facts that are, or seem like, offense elements and facts about the offender that, outside the capital context, have "never fallen to juries." 3 N.Y.3d at 69 n.8. All of the "prohibited judicial findings" in Ring, Blakely and Booker, the court explained in Rivera, "relate to the crime for which the defendant was on trial." Id. Those factfindings, the court continued, are "readily distinguishable" from "consider[ing] holistically the defendant's entire circumstances and character, including traits touching upon the need for deterrence, retribution and rehabilitation unrelated to the crime of conviction." Id.
That dichotomy, as discussed above, cannot be squared with Apprendi's rule. The rule says that any fact other than a prior conviction -- not other than an offender characteristic -- that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. No matter how distant the facts at issue may be from the elements of the offense or their "functional equivalents," and no matter how "holistic" or "amorphous" the inquiry may be, if the sentencing court's authority to impose a persistent felony offender sentence is conditioned on factfindings that must be made by the court, such sentences cannot withstand Sixth Amendment scrutiny.*fn17
Finally, Rivera's observation that "our statutes are quite similar to the federal sentencing statute, which requires [consideration of] various factors, including 'the history and characteristics of the defendant,'" 5 N.Y.3d at 69, is true. But there is a critical dissimilarity. The advisory regime created by Booker, in which Guidelines ranges are only recommended, does not implicate the Sixth Amendment. Cunningham, 127 S.Ct. at 870. But under § 70.10 and § 400.20, the authority to enhance a sentence above the legislatively-established maximum sentence for the offense of conviction is still conditioned on judicial factfindings. As in Cunningham, where the sentencing judge could not sentence the defendant to more than 12 years "unless he found facts allowing the imposition" of the upper term sentence, 127 S.Ct. at 870, the sentencing judge here could not sentence Portalatin to a sentence in excess of 25 years unless she found facts as required by § 400.20.
However, the deference our federal system demands in this regard does not help respondent here. Once any ambiguities as to the meaning of § 70.10 are resolved by the New York court, a federal court must reach its own judgment as to its operative effect. Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 U.S. 476, 483-84 (1993). The unambiguous text of § 400.20(9) still commands sentencing courts to make findings of fact before they may impose an enhanced sentence under § 70.10. Although Rivera casts those factfindings as essential to appellate review, rather than to the initial imposition of sentence, it nevertheless leaves them as a "mandatory" part of the statutory scheme. 3 N.Y.3d at 69. That feature of the scheme compels my conclusion here.*fn18
Put another way, I defer to the Court of Appeals's conclusion with respect to what § 70.10 means, but I do not defer to its determination that, "[i]n practical terms, the legislative command" that findings of fact be made does not violate the jury trial right. Id.; see also Mitchell, 508 U.S. at 483-84 ("[H]ere the Wisconsin Supreme Court did not, strictly speaking, construe the Wisconsin statute in the sense of defining the meaning of a statutory word or phrase. Rather, it merely characterized the 'practical effect' of the statute for First Amendment purposes. . . . This assessment does not bind us."). The Court of Appeals's analysis, i.e., that the statute merely aims to make explicit "what sentencing courts have always done," Rivera, 3 N.Y.3dat 57, and thus does not have unconstitutional effects, does not preempt my independent obligation to assess the constitutionality of the statute as the court itself construed it.
Finally, respondent contends that Rivera is entitled to another form of deference --AEDPA deference. Specifically, respondent argues that it is not enough for Portalatin to demonstrate that the state courts' rejection of his jury trial claim misapplied the Apprendi principle; he must further demonstrate that the misapplication was objectively unreasonable, and he has failed to do so here. Respondent's argument fails for two reasons.
The foregoing assumes that Portalatin's case (and Rivera) are not "run-of-the-mill state-court decision[s] applying the correct legal rule" of Apprendi to the persistent felony offender statute. Williams, 529 U.S. at 406. If they are, they do not "fit comfortably within § 2254(d)(1)'s 'contrary to' clause, and thus should be assessed under its unreasonable application clause." Id. Viewed from that perspective, the question is whether the New York courts unreasonably applied Apprendi to persistent felony offender sentences. Id. at 413. For the same reasons discussed above, I conclude that the state courts' decision was an objectively unreasonable application of the Apprendi rule. Even if that were not clear prior to Blakely and Booker, see Brown v. Greiner, 409 F.3d 523 (2d Cir. 2005); Brown v. Miller, 451 F.3d 54 (2d Cir. 2006), it became so in light of those decisions.
If it wanted to, New York could, consistent with Apprendi, subject all persons convicted of a felony who have two prior (nonviolent) felony convictions to the possibility of life in prison. See Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 498 (Scalia, J., concurring) ("I think it not unfair to tell a prospective felon that if he commits his contemplated crime he is exposing himself to a jail sentence of 30 years -- and that if, upon conviction, he gets anything less than that he may thank the mercy of a tenderhearted judge. . . . Will there be disparities? Of course. But the criminal will never get more punishment than he bargained for when he did the crime, and his guilt of the crime (and hence the length of the sentence to which he is exposed) will be determined beyond a reasonable doubt by the unanimous vote of 12 of his fellow citizens.").
New York could also guide the discretion of sentencing courts in those cases by telling them to consider the history and character of the defendant and the nature and circumstances of his criminal conduct in determining whether extended incarceration and lifetime supervision will best serve the public interest. See id. at 481 ("We should be clear that nothing in this history suggests that it is impermissible for judges to exercise discretion -- taking into consideration various factors relating both to offense and offender -- in imposing a judgment within the range prescribed by statute. We have often noted that judges in this country have long exercised discretion of this nature in imposing sentence within statutory limits in the individual case.").
From the perspective of the defendant being sentenced, a sentencing scheme like the one described above might be indistinguishable from the one currently in place: judges would likely consider the same factors at the same phase of the proceedings, and may even reach the same results. But the critical difference would be that the jury's factual findings, not the judge's, would fix the upper limits of sentencing authority. Where, as under § 70.10 and so many other statutes enacted during the trend toward determinate sentencing, the upper limits are only expanded upon factfindings made by the judge, the jury no longer stands between the defendant and the power of the government. As the Supreme Court stated in Booker, the invalidation of such statutes is not "motivated by Sixth Amendment formalism, but by the need to preserve Sixth Amendment substance." 125 S.Ct. at 752.
N.Y. Penal Law § 70.10 (McKinney 1965)
Sentence of Imprisonment for Persistent Felony Offender
1. Definition of Persistent Felony Offender
2. Authorized Sentence
When the court has found, pursuant to the provisions of the criminal procedure law, that a person is a persistent felony offender, and when it is of the opinion that the history and character of the defendant and the nature and circumstances of his criminal conduct indicate that extended incarceration and life-time supervision will best serve the public interest, the court, in lieu of imposing the sentence of imprisonment authorized by section 70.00, 70.02, 70.04 or 70.06 for the crime of which such person presently stands convicted, may impose the sentence of imprisonment authorized by that section for a class A-I felony. In such event the reasons for the court's opinion shall be set forth in the record.
N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 400.20 (McKinney 1970)
Procedure for Determining Whether Defendant Should be Sentenced as a Persistent Felony Offender
The provisions of this section govern the procedure that must be followed in order to impose the persistent felony offender sentence authorized by subdivision two of section 70.10 of the penal law. Such sentence may not be imposed unless, based upon evidence in the record of a hearing held pursuant to this section, the court (a) has found that the defendant is a persistent felony offender as defined in subdivision one of section 70.10 of the penal law, and (b) is of the opinion that the history and character of the defendant and the nature and circumstances of his criminal conduct are such that extended incarceration and lifetime supervision of the defendant are warranted to best serve the public interest.
2. Authorization for Hearing
When information available to the court prior to sentencing indicates that the defendant is a persistent felony offender, and when, in the opinion of the court, the available information shows that a persistent felony offender sentence may be warranted, the court may order a hearing to determine (a) whether the defendant is in fact a persistent felony offender, and (b) if so, whether a persistent felony offender sentence should be imposed.
3. Order Directing a Hearing
An order directing a hearing to determine whether the defendant should be sentenced as a persistent felony offender must be filed with the clerk of the court and must specify a date for the hearing not less than twenty days from the date the order is filed. The court must annex to and file with the order a statement setting forth the following:
Upon receipt of the order and statement of the court, the clerk of the court must send a notice of hearing to the defendant, his counsel and the district attorney. Such notice must specify the time and place of the hearing and the fact that the purpose of the hearing is to determine whether or not the defendant should be sentenced as a persistent felony offender. Each notice required to be sent hereunder must be accompanied by a copy of the statement of the court.
5. Burden and Standard of Proof; Evidence
Upon any hearing held pursuant to this section the burden of proof is upon the people. A finding that the defendant is a persistent felony offender, as defined in subdivision one of section 70.10 of the penal law, must be based upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt by evidence admissible under the rules applicable to the trial of the issue of guilt. Matters pertaining to the defendant's history and character and the nature and circumstances of his criminal conduct may be established by any relevant evidence, not legally privileged, regardless of admissibility under the exclusionary rules of evidence, and the standard of proof with respect to such matters shall be a preponderance of the evidence.
6. Constitutionality of Prior Convictions
A previous conviction in this or any other jurisdiction which was obtained in violation of the rights of the defendant under the applicable provisions of the Constitution of the United States may not be counted in determining whether the defendant is a persistent felony offender. The defendant may, at any time during the course of the hearing hereunder controvert an allegation with respect to such conviction in the statement of the court on the grounds that the conviction was unconstitutionally obtained. Failure to challenge the previous conviction in the manner provided herein constitutes a waiver on the part of the defendant of any allegation of unconstitutionality unless good cause be shown for such failure to make timely challenge.
When the defendant appears for the hearing the court must ask him whether he wishes to controvert any allegation made in the statement prepared by the court, and whether he wishes to present evidence on the issue of whether he is a persistent felony offender or on the question of his background and criminal conduct. If the defendant wishes to controvert any allegation in the statement of the court, he must specify the particular allegation or allegations he wishes to controvert. If he wishes to present evidence in his own behalf, he must specify the nature of such evidence. Uncontroverted allegations in the statement of the court are deemed evidence in the record.
8. Cases Where Further Hearing is not Required
Where the uncontroverted allegations in the statement of the court are sufficient to support a finding that the defendant is a persistent felony offender and the court is satisfied that (a) the uncontroverted allegations with respect to the defendant's background and the nature of his prior criminal conduct warrant sentencing the defendant as a persistent felony offender, and (b) the defendant either has no relevant evidence to present or the facts which could be established through the evidence offered by the defendant would not affect the court's decision, the court may enter a finding that the defendant is a persistent felony offender and sentence him in accordance with the provisions of subdivision two of section 70.10 of the penal law.
9. Cases Where Further Hearing is Required
Where the defendant controverts an allegation in the statement of the court and the uncontroverted allegations in such statement are not sufficient to support a finding that the defendant is a persistent felony offender as defined in subdivision one of section 70.10 of the penal law, or where the uncontroverted allegations with respect to the defendant's history and the nature of his prior criminal conduct do not warrant sentencing him as a persistent felony offender, or where the defendant has offered to present evidence to establish facts that would affect the court's decision on the question of whether a persistent felony offender sentence is warranted, the court may fix a date for a further hearing. Such hearing shall be before the court without a jury and either party may introduce evidence with respect to the controverted allegations or any other matter relevant to the issue of whether or not the defendant should be sentenced as a persistent felony offender. At the conclusion of the hearing the court must make a finding as to whether or not the defendant is a persistent felony offender and, upon a finding that he is such, must then make such findings of fact as it deems relevant to the question of whether a persistent felony offender sentence is warranted. If the court both finds that the defendant is a persistent felony offender and is of the opinion that a persistent felony offender sentence is warranted, it may sentence the defendant in accordance with the provisions of subdivision two of section 70.10 of the penal law.
10. Termination of Hearing
At any time during the pendency of a hearing pursuant to this section, the court may, in its discretion, terminate the hearing without making any finding. In such case, unless the court recommences the proceedings and makes the necessary findings, the defendant may not be sentenced as a persistent felony offender.