Court Opinion

ID: 9884644
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 03:04:41.711524+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:40.001725
License: Public Domain

PAGE, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur with the court’s determination that the district court’s imposition of an upward durational sentencing departure violated Shattuck’s Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial under Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. -, 124 S.Ct. 2531 (2004). I respectfully dissent, however, from the order directing supplemental briefing on the issue of remedy. Supplemental briefing is neither necessary nor appropriate. “The presumptive sentence is the maximum penalty authorized solely by the jury’s verdict.” Under the sentencing guidelines, “imposition of the presumptive sentence is mandatory absent additional judicial findings.” Because the judicial findings made here were void ab initio and of no legal effect, I would remand to the district court for imposition of the presumptive sentence. See generally State v. Geller, 665 N.W.2d 514, 517 (Minn.2003), Williams v. State, 361 N.W.2d 840, 843-44 (Minn.1985). Any responsibility for fixing the “Blakely problem” lies with the legislature and not this court.