Opinion ID: 2584137
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Effect of the Apprendi Line of Cases on Modern Sentencing Schemes

Text: {9} In 2000, the United States Supreme Court published Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), setting off a tumult in modern sentencing schemes throughout the nation. In Apprendi, the defendant pled guilty to, among other things, the crime of possessing a firearm for an unlawful purpose, a second-degree offense in New Jersey. Id. at 469-70, 120 S.Ct. 2348. New Jersey law provided for a sentencing range of five to ten years for a second-degree offense. Id. at 470, 120 S.Ct. 2348. A hate-crime statute allowed the sentencing court to impose an enhanced sentence of up to twenty years if the defendant's possession of a firearm was for a biased purpose. See id. After finding by a preponderance of the evidence that the hate-crime statute applied, the judge sentenced the defendant to twelve years on the possession charge-two years above the statutory maximum of ten years. Id. at 471, 120 S.Ct. 2348. The Supreme Court held the defendant's sentence to be unconstitutional, stating: Other than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348. At the same time, however, the Court took pains to emphasize that it is entirely constitutional 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. Id. at 481, 120 S.Ct. 2348. Thus, had the judge exercised discretion in choosing a sentence anywhere between five and ten years, there would have been no constitutional problem since any penalty within that range would not have been above the prescribed statutory maximum. Id. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348. {10} Soon after Apprendi, the Court of Appeals addressed the argument that an upward alteration of a defendant's basic sentence pursuant to Section 31-18-15.1 was unconstitutional because the aggravating circumstances were not found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Wilson, 2001-NMCA-032, ¶ 3, 130 N.M. 319, 24 P.3d 351. In sum, the question after Apprendi became whether the prescribed statutory maximum was the basic sentence mandated by Section 31-18-15(A) or whether Section 31-18-15.1 established a sentencing range in which a judge could exercise his or her discretion in choosing a sentence. [3] Id. ¶¶ 13, 17. The Court of Appeals thought the answer turned on legislative intent. Id. ¶ 17. Ultimately, the court held: [T]hat the authority of the sentencing court, namely to determine where within the range a particular criminal defendant should be sentenced, has not changed since the 1977[law] implemented determinate sentencing within a range of years and gave the trial court the authority to impose a sentence of a definite term of years within that range. Rather, we understand the current scheme to be a means of protecting defendants, in a way that was not present from 1977 to 1979, from arbitrary sentencing decisions without the possibility of any appellate review. Id. ¶ 21. Wilson distinguished our sentencing scheme from that of Apprendi and other schemes found unconstitutional after Apprendi on the grounds that our scheme does not (1) enumerate specific factors that must be found or (2) set specific presumptive ranges for its basic sentence that a judge is later allowed to exceed. Id. ¶ 26. {11} After Wilson, the United States Supreme Court decided Blakely. 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403. In Blakely, the defendant pled guilty in Washington to second-degree kidnaping involving domestic violence and a firearm. Id. at 298-99, 124 S.Ct. 2531. At the time of the defendant's sentencing, Washington law provided that second-degree kidnaping was a class B felony and that no person convicted of a class B felony could be imprisoned for more than ten years. Id. at 299, 124 S.Ct. 2531. Another sentencing provision tempered the first statute by providing that, considering the defendant's criminal history and his particular offense of second-degree kidnaping with a firearm, the standard range of imprisonment was to be 49 to 53 months. See id. Washington law further provided that a judge could deviate upward from the standard range only upon finding `substantial and compelling reasons justifying an exceptional sentence.' Id. (quoting Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 9.94A.120(2)). Although numerous aggravating factors justifying an exceptional sentence were listed by statute, the list was illustrative and not exhaustive. Id. Based on the judge's determination that the defendant had acted with deliberate cruelty in committing his offense, the judge sentenced the defendant to 90 months-37 months greater than the standard maximum, but still within the maximum of 120 months provided for a class B felony. Id. at 300, 124 S.Ct. 2531. {12} Relying on Apprendi, the defendant in Blakely argued that he was deprived of his constitutional right to have all facts essential to his sentence determined by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. See id. at 301, 124 S.Ct. 2531. The State of Washington countered with the argument that there was no Apprendi violation because the relevant `statutory maximum' [was] not 53 months, but the 10-year maximum for class B felonies. Id. at 303, 124 S.Ct. 2531. The Supreme Court rejected this argument: Our precedents make clear . . . that the statutory maximum for Apprendi purposes is the maximum sentence a judge may impose solely on the basis of the facts reflected in the jury verdict or admitted by the defendant. In other words, the relevant statutory maximum is not the maximum sentence a judge may impose after finding additional facts, but the maximum he may impose without any additional findings. Id. at 303-04, 124 S.Ct. 2531 (citations omitted). Notwithstanding the dissent of two justices, the Court held it immaterial that, unlike Apprendi, the enumerated grounds for departing from the standard sentence were illustrative rather than exhaustive. Id. at 305, 124 S.Ct. 2531; see id. at 325, 124 S.Ct. 2531 (O'Connor, J., dissenting) ([T]he `extraordinary sentence' provision struck down today is as inoffensive to the holding of Apprendi as a regime of guided discretion could possibly be. The list of facts that justify an increase in the range is nonexhaustive.). {13} Within six months of Blakely, the Court of Appeals decided Frawley's case. Frawley, 2005-NMCA-017, 137 N.M. 18, 106 P.3d 580. The court in Frawley believed Blakely clarifie[d] and extend[ed] Apprendi  such that Frawley's enhancements pursuant to Section 31-18-15.1 were unconstitutional. Id. ¶ 13. Specifically, the Court of Appeals interpreted Blakely as follows: When the jury considers the facts relevant to the elements of an offense in determining guilt or innocence, the criminal sanctions for that offense cannot be increased after the verdict based on facts the jury has not specifically considered in connection with its finding of guilt, whether or not the facts are labeled sentencing factors, and even if the facts are not material to the statutory elements of the offense. Id. ¶ 12. {14} Between the time the Court of Appeals decided Frawley and our granting of certiorari in that case, the United States Supreme Court published Booker, a case that consolidated the cases of two defendants-Booker and Fanfan. 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621. Booker is a unique case in that its holding is divided into two parts (what we term the substantive and remedial parts), each with a separate author and each only garnering five votes. [4] The substantive portion of Booker, authored by Justice Stevens, held that the federal sentencing guidelines were unconstitutional after Blakely. Id. at 243-44, 125 S.Ct. 738 (opinion of Stevens, J.). The remedial part of Booker, authored by Justice Breyer, remedied the constitutional deficiencies of the guidelines by severing the provision of the governing statutes that made the guidelines mandatory along with another provision that relied on the mandatory nature of the guidelines. Id. at 245-46, 125 S.Ct. 738 (opinion of Breyer, J.). {15} Booker was given an enhanced sentence, which was contrary to the result in Fanfan's trial. Based upon Booker's criminal history and the quantity of drugs found by the jury, [92.5 grams of crack,] the Sentencing Guidelines required the District Court Judge to select a `base' sentence of not less than 210 nor more than 262 months in prison. 543 U.S. at 227, 125 S.Ct. 738 (opinion of Stevens, J.). At sentencing, however, the judge determined that Booker had actually possessed an additional 566 grams of crack and had also obstructed justice. Id. Based on those judicial findings, the judge imposed a guidelines-mandated sentence within the range of 360 months to life imprisonment. Id. Fanfan was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute at least 500 grams of cocaine. Id. at 228, 125 S.Ct. 738. The guidelines authorized a sentence of no more than 78 months imprisonment. Id. The judge at sentencing found additional facts by a preponderance of the evidence that authorized a sentence of 188-235 months imprisonment. Id. Based partly on Blakely, however, the judge concluded that imprisoning Fanfan to anything greater than 78 months would violate Fanfan's Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury. See id. at 228-29, 125 S.Ct. 738. {16} In the substantive part of Booker, the majority held that there was no constitutional distinction between the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and the Washington sentencing scheme. [5] Id. at 233, 125 S.Ct. 738; see also Blakely, 542 U.S. at 325, 124 S.Ct. 2531 (O'Connor, J., dissenting). Critically, what made the two schemes identical for purposes of the Sixth Amendment was the fact that the relevant sentencing rules are mandatory and impose binding requirements on all sentencing judges. Booker, 543 U.S. at 233, 125 S.Ct. 738 (opinion of Stevens, J.). Although the substantive majority did not address the fact that the Washington system allowed for a judge to impose a greater sentence after making certain findings, it was clear that the federal system  required [] the selection of particular sentences in response to differing sets of facts. [6] Id. (emphasis added). In summation, the majority in the substantive portion of the opinion stated: [E]veryone agrees that the constitutional issues presented by these cases would have been avoided entirely if Congress had omitted from the [Sentencing Reform Act] 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. Id. {17} After considering what Congress would have done had it known of the constitutional deficiency, the remedial majority of Booker severed the provision of the statute making the guidelines mandatory from the rest of the Act, see 18 U.S.C.A. § 3553(b) (Supp.2004) (providing that the court shall impose a sentence of the kind, and within the range, [as set forth in the guidelines]), and the provision setting forth standards of review on appeal that relied on the first provision, see 18 U.S.C.A. § 3742(e) (2000 & Supp. 2004). Booker, 543 U.S. at 259-60, 125 S.Ct. 738 (opinion of Breyer, J.). As modified, the Act requires a sentencing, court to consider Guidelines ranges, but it permits the court to tailor the sentence in light of other statutory concerns as well. Id. at 245-46, 125 S.Ct. 738 (citations omitted). Thus, after Booker the federal sentencing guidelines are effectively advisory, id. at 245, 125 S.Ct. 738, and a judge's sentencing decision is reviewed to determine if the sentence is unreasonable, id. at 261, 125 S.Ct. 738.