POLS 4720 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Duffel Bag, Stephen Breyer
19 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
To reach this sentence, the judge found facts beyond those found by the jury: namely, that. Booker possessed 566 grams of crack in addition to the 92. 5 grams in his duffel bag. The jury never heard any evidence of the additional drug quantity, and the judge found it true by a preponderance of the evidence. Thus, just as in blakely, (cid:858)(cid:858)the jury(cid:859)s verdict alone does not authorize the sentence. The judge acquires that authority only upon finding some additional fa(cid:272)t. (cid:859)(cid:859) there is no relevant distinction between the sentence imposed pursuant to the. Washington statutes in blakely and the sentences imposed pursuant to the federal. The court held that the sentencing guidelines, where they allow judges to enhance sentences using facts not reviewed by juries, violated the sixth amendment right to trial by jury. The sentences of booker and fanfan, based partly on facts determined only by judges, were therefore unconstitutional. In a separate 5-4 opinion delivered by justice stephen.
