A Blakely sentencing trial and other news

This article from the Seattle Times describes a special sentencing trial in a federal fraud case.  Here is the article’s account of the practice and result:

Yesterday, after about seven hours’ deliberation, jurors answered 17 specific questions as part of the sentencing procedure that relies on a scoring system. They responded to questions on subjects such as the defendants’ respective roles, the amount of loss and the vulnerability of victims. They didn’t answer every question to the complete satisfaction of prosecutors, but the government came out on top.

In other intriguing morning sentencing news, this article from Maryland discusses an anti-abortion group’s plans to protest the early prison release of a pregnant woman, and this article from Maine discusses the creation of a “mental health court” in order “to give judges new alternatives to jail for defendants suffering from mental illness.”