Dale E. Schardt v. Alice Payne

ALARCÓN, Senior Circuit Judge.

We must decide in this matter the novel question whether a Washington state prisoner may challenge the'validity of his sentence retroactively on the ground that the trial .court based its sentencing decision on facts that were not found to be true by a jury in -violation of the constitutional principle subsequently announced by the United States Supreme Court in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct, 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004). We conclude that Blakely does not apply retroactively to convictions that became final prior to its publication. We also hold…