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Blakely v. Washington

Blakely v. Washington was a 2004 U.S. Supreme Court decision. The Court ruled, 5-4, that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial prohibited judges from enhancing criminal sentences based on facts other than those decided by the jury or confessed to by the defendant.

Case background

The case involved the sentencing of Ralph Blakely, Jr., a man who had pled guilty to kidnapping his estranged wife in Grant County, Washington. The Washington state Sentencing Reform Act required standard sentences according to statutory guidelines unless the judge found "aggravating circumstances." In Blakely's case, the judge found, independently of what Blakely had confessed to, that he had acted with "deliberate cruelty." The judge raised Blakely's standard sentence of 53 months up to 90.

Blakely appealed his sentence in state court as a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed the trial judge's determination and the Washington Supreme Court denied discretionary review. Blakely was then granted review by the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed the Washington Court of Appeals and remanded Blakely's sentence for a redetermination and reduction by the Washington courts. The Court's ruling also has the effect of invalidating sentencing schemes such as the Washington Sentencing Reform Act, that give judges the power to increase sentences based on facts not confessed to nor found by a jury.

The Court's opinion

Justice Scalia wrote for the five-justice majority, joined by Justices Stevens, Souter, Thomas, and Ginsburg. The court's opinion extended the scope of the Apprendi decision, in requiring jury determination of aggravating circumstances that increased a sentence, even when the sentence was within the statutory limits for the unaggravated offense.

Dissenting opinions

Justice O'Connor wrote a dissent joined by Justice Breyer and joined in part by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Kennedy. Justice Kennedy also wrote a dissent joined by Justice Breyer, who himself wrote a dissent joined by Justice O'Connor.

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