Opinion ID: 2516524
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: retroactivity and federal constitutional law

Text: ¶ 7 Our first task is to determine whether Apprendi or Blakely applies retroactively to cases already final when they are announced. The law favors finality of judgments, and courts will not routinely apply new decisions of law to cases that are already final. In re Pers. Restraint of St. Pierre, 118 Wash.2d 321, 329, 823 P.2d 492 (1992); cf. State v. Hanson, 151 Wash.2d 783, 790, 91 P.3d 888 (2004). Generally, we have followed the lead of the United States Supreme Court when deciding whether to give retroactive application to newly articulated principles of law. See In re Pers. Restraint of Markel, 154 Wash.2d 262, 268, 111 P.3d 249 (2005) (citing In re Pers. Restraint of Sauve, 103 Wash.2d 322, 328, 692 P.2d 818 (1985)). ¶ 8 Under this federal common law retroactivity analysis: 1. A new rule for the conduct of criminal prosecutions is to be applied retroactively to all cases, state or federal, pending on direct review or not yet final, with no exception for cases in which the new rule constitutes a clear break from the past. 2. A new rule will not be given retroactive application to cases on collateral review except where either: (a) the new rule places certain kinds of primary, private individual conduct beyond the power of the state to proscribe,[ [1] ] or (b) the rule requires the observance of procedures implicit in the concept of ordered liberty. St. Pierre, 118 Wash.2d at 326, 823 P.2d 492 (citing Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 328, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987) and Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 311, 109 S.Ct. 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 334 (1989) (O'Connor, J., opinion)). ¶ 9 New cases are those that break[ ] new ground or impose[] a new obligation on the States or the Federal government [or] ... if the result was not dictated by precedent existing at the time the defendant's conviction became final. Teague, 489 U.S. at 301, 109 S.Ct. 1060 (citations omitted). If before the opinion is announced, reasonable jurists could disagree on the rule of law, the opinion is new. Beard v. Banks, 542 U.S. 406, 124 S.Ct. 2504, 2510, 159 L.Ed.2d 494 (2004). We have no trouble concluding that Apprendi announced a new rule of law. Reasonable minds could, and did, differ on the constitutionality of determinate sentencing schemes. Cf. McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U.S. 79, 84-85, 106 S.Ct. 2411, 91 L.Ed.2d 67 (1986) (upholding statute that imposed mandatory minimum sentence on defendants sentencing judge found were visibly armed). See generally Simpson v. United States, 376 F.3d 679, 681 (7th Cir.2004) (collecting cases finding Apprendi not retroactive). ¶ 10 A new procedural rule will be applied retroactively if it is implicit in the concept of ordered liberty, implicating the fundamental fairness of the trial. St. Pierre, 118 Wash.2d at 326, 823 P.2d 492 (citing Mackey v. United States, 401 U.S. 667, 692-93, 91 S.Ct. 1160, 28 L.Ed.2d 404 (1971) (Harlan, J., concurring)). A rule that qualifies under this exception must not only improve accuracy, but also `alter our understanding of the bedrock procedural elements ' essential to the fairness of a proceeding. Sawyer v. Smith, 497 U.S. 227, 242, 110 S.Ct. 2822, 111 L.Ed.2d 193 (1990) (quoting Teague, 489 U.S. at 311, 109 S.Ct. 1060 (O'Connor, J., opinion) and Mackey, 401 U.S. at 693, 91 S.Ct. 1160 (Harlan, J., concurring)). It is not enough for the right to be important; it must also play a vital instrumental role in securing a fair trial. ¶ 11 The right of trial by jury is not merely important, it is a fundamental right secured by the United States Constitution. It finds its roots in the core principles upon which this nation was founded. U.S. CONST. amend. VI; see also generally Sofie v. Fibreboard Corp., 112 Wash.2d 636, 771 P.2d 711, 780 P.2d 260 (1989). As Justice Scalia noted: Our commitment to Apprendi in this context reflects not just respect for longstanding precedent, but the need to give intelligible content to the right of jury trial. That right is no mere procedural formality, but a fundamental reservation of power in our constitutional structure. Just as suffrage ensures the people's ultimate control in the legislative and executive branches, jury trial is meant to ensure their control in the judiciary. Blakely, 124 S. Ct at 2538-39. The brilliance of our constitution is in its multiplicity of checks and balances. The jury trial is not only the right of the accused it also further assures governance by the people. The jury system permits the people to participate in and provide another check on potential abuses of courts and government. But how the jury right is enjoyed is largely a question of procedural law, and reasonable changes may be made so long as these changes do not trench on the core purposes and protections of the constitutionally ensured right. See Blakely, 124 S.Ct. at 2538-39. ¶ 12 At common law, after a trial of the facts on the merits by a jury, sentencing was largely up to the sound discretion of the trial judge. See Blakely, 124 S.Ct. at 2544 (O'Connor, J., dissenting) (citing David Boerner & Roxanne Lieb, Sentencing Reform in the Other Washington, 28 CRIME AND JUSTICE 71, 73 (Michael Tonry ed.2001)). Many factors considered by the sentencing judge were not traditionally subject to the right of trial by jury. See generally State v. Smith, 150 Wash.2d 135, 154, 75 P.3d 934 (2003) (citing DAVID BOERNER, SENTENCING IN WASHINGTON: A LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE SENTENCING REFORM ACT OF 1981 § 2.2(a) (1985) (discussing evolution of sentencing practice)). But sentencing procedures have changed considerably over the years. See generally United States v. Booker, ___ U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621(2005). ¶ 13 The United States Supreme Court has recently revisited the retroactivity of new procedural rules in Schriro v. Summerlin, 542 U.S. 348, 124 S.Ct. 2519, 159 L.Ed.2d 442 (2004). Schriro was announced by the Supreme Court the same day as Blakely. Justice Scalia wrote for a majority of the Court in both cases. In Schriro, the Court decided that a new rule announcing constitutionally required proceedings in death penalty sentencing hearings would not apply retroactively. See Schriro, 124 S.Ct. at 2521-23. The stakes in Schriro were especially high; the offenders it would affect were men and women sentenced to death as a result of a procedure that the Supreme Court had subsequently found unconstitutional. Id.; see also Lambrix v. Singletary, 520 U.S. 518, 540, 117 S.Ct. 1517, 137 L.Ed.2d 771 (1997) (refusing to apply new procedural rule retroactively even though it went to whether the sentence of death was properly pronounced); Graham v. Collins, 506 U.S. 461, 113 S.Ct. 892, 122 L.Ed.2d 260 (1993) (new rules on proper consideration of mitigating evidence not retroactive to prior death sentences). Despite these stakes, the high court explicitly found that the identity of the fact finder for sentencing purposes was not implicit in the concept of ordered liberty and did not implicate the fundamental fairness of the proceedings. [2] The mere fact the right was important did not make it a watershed rule of criminal procedure under Teague. The same principles apply to Apprendi. [3] ¶ 14 We conclude that Apprendi is not a watershed rule of criminal procedure. Accordingly, we join our sister courts and hold that it does not apply retroactively to cases already final on direct review. Simpson, 376 F.3d at 681 (collecting cases). ¶ 15 Having decided that Apprendi does not meet the standard for retroactive application, Blakely is less difficult. Blakely concerned the definition of statutory maximum as meant by Apprendi. Before Blakely, courts around the country had found that statutory maximum was the maximum sentence allowed by law for the crime, rather than the maximum standard range sentence. See, e.g., State v. Gore, 143 Wash.2d 288, 313-14, 21 P.3d 262 (2001), overruled by State v. Hughes, 154 Wash.2d 118, 110 P.3d 192 (2005); contra Blakely, 124 S.Ct. at 2536-37. Accordingly, we have no difficulty concluding that Blakely was a new rule. ¶ 16 Blakely is procedural as it concerns itself with how sentencing is to be conducted. However, it is not a watershed rule of criminal procedure implicit in the concept of ordered liberty. It no more affects the fundamental fairness of the proceeding than the principles at stake in Schriro. Cf. Schriro, 124 S.Ct. at 2521-23. We conclude that under Teague, neither Apprendi nor Blakely applies retroactively to cases already final on direct review. Accord Markel, 154 Wash.2d at 274-75, 111 P.3d 249. [4]