Bryant v. State

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

This is one of a good many cases that were pending on direct appeal when Indiana's criminal sentencing scheme was declared unconstitutional under Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), and to which that holding therefore applies. Here, the trial court enhanced a sentence based on a finding that the perpetrator "lay in wait" and on the perpetrator's prior criminal convie-tions. Under Blakely, the first of these findings must be made by a jury. Uncertain about the nature of the prior convie-tions and whether they warrant a maximum…