State v. Abdullah

The Sixth Amendment’s jury trial guarantee forbids a judge from imposing a sentence beyond the range authorized by either a jury’s verdict or a defendant’s admissions at a plea hearing. United States v. Booker, — U.S. -,-, 125 S.Ct. 738, 749, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005); Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, -, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 2537, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004); Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 488-90, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 2362-63, 147 L.Ed.2d 435, 453-55 (2000). To conform the Code of Criminal Justice to that constitutional principle, today, in State v. Natale, we struck down the Code’s system of…