Blakely in the morning papers

Always the early riser, Howard Bashman at How Appealing provides a good bit of the morning Blakely news here and here. And here is an additional article from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. All the articles include noteworthy accounts of Blakely ripples in various parts of the country, and I found particularly interesting this account of Blakely‘s impact on Alaska state sentencing and this report of developments in Arizona.

The Arizona story is the first I have seen spotlighting how probation revocation decisions might be impacted by Blakely:

One problem that needs to be addressed is how to handle a sentencing hearing for probation violators. “If someone is on probation, they haven’t waived their right to have a jury trial on the aggravating factors,” [local Graham County Attorney Ken] Angle said. “But, if they violate their probation, we need to know how we are going to handle this.”

Finally, those intrigued by the Second Circuit’s decision to certify Blakely questions to the Supreme Court can focus on this New York Law Journal article about the effort. Since I am, by virtue of my biography, partial to the Second Circuit, I liked seeing the court’s decision described by Gary Stein as a “bold and creative act of judicial statesmanship.”