More affirmances despite Blakely in the First Circuit

The First Circuit, continuing a trend highlighted earlier this week here, continues to use plain error analysis to affirm sentences imposed before Blakely over Blakely objections. See US v. Coyne, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 22964 (1st Cir. Nov. 3, 2004); US v. Stokes, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 23290 (1st Cir. Nov. 5, 2004). The Stokes ruling is particularly noteworthy because the First Circuit asserts that “even if Blakely is held to apply to the Federal Guidelines, we find no basis for reversal” because “the judge’s findings — that Stokes used an AK-47 during a crime of violence, and that such a gun is extraordinarily dangerous — were ‘overwhelmingly’ proven.”