State v. Dague

OPINION

MANNHEIMER, Judge.

In Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), the United States Supreme Court held that when the maximum sentence for a defendant’s crime hinges on an issue of fact, aside from the defendant’s prior criminal convictions, the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the defendant a right to jury trial on this issue of fact, and a right to demand that the government prove this fact beyond a reasonable doubt. 1

Under the pre-March 2005 version of Alaska’s presumptive sentencing law, a sentencing judge was authorized to…