Opinion ID: 789140
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Substantive Opinion

Text: 15 Booker/Fanfan was the culmination of a series of decisions explicating the requirements of the Sixth Amendment in the context of sentencing. See Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000); Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002); Blakely v. Washington, ___ U.S. ___, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004). In the Substantive Opinion, the Court ruled that [a]ny fact (other than a prior conviction) which is necessary to support a sentence exceeding the maximum authorized by the facts established by a plea of guilty or a jury verdict must be admitted by the defendant or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Substantive Opinion at 20. 6 This ruling, the Court explained, was required for enforcement of the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a jury trial in today's world. Id. at 11. As the Court explained, the world of sentencing formerly relied primarily on indeterminate sentencing, i.e., a regime in which, for every offense, the sentencing judge had discretion to select a sentence anywhere within the range bounded by the maximum sentence and the minimum sentence, if any, that the legislature established. But that world, the Court further explained, was significantly modified by the advent of determinate sentencing, i.e., a regime in which a legislature or a commission specifies precise sentences or, more typically, establishes fairly narrow ranges within the broader statutory ranges, and the sentencing judge is required to select a sentence within the narrow range, subject to limited exceptions. 16 The Substantive Opinion emphasized that it was the mandatory aspect of these determinate sentencing regimes that implicated the Sixth Amendment's requirement of a jury trial: 17 We have never doubted the authority of a judge to exercise broad discretion in imposing a sentence within a statutory range. Indeed, everyone agrees that the constitutional issues presented by these cases would have been avoided entirely if Congress had omitted from the SRA the provisions that make the Guidelines binding on district judges.... For when a trial judge exercises his discretion to select a specific sentence within a defined range, the defendant has no right to a jury determination of the facts that the judge deems relevant. 18 Id. at 8-9 (internal citations omitted). 19 In Booker's case, the Court ruled in the Substantive Opinion that Booker's sentence violated the Sixth Amendment because the sentencing judge, as required by the Guidelines, had increased the sentencing range of 210-262 months, the applicable range based on the facts reflected in the jury's verdict, to 360 months to life, the applicable range based on the facts of the defendant's relevant conduct, see U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3, as found by the judge. Booker received a sentence of 360 months. In Fanfan's case, the applicable Guidelines range had been increased from 63-78 months to 188-235 months based on the sentencing judge's finding of relevant conduct. However, the sentencing judge, concluding that Blakely precluded his use of the Guidelines to enhance the sentencing range above the range based solely on the verdict, applied the 63-78 months range and imposed a sentence of 78 months.