The New Jersey Blakely saga continues
As I have detailed in posts here and here and elsewhere, the story of Blakely in New Jersey (aka the state which gave us Apprendi) is quite engaging and dynamic. Responding to the state’s lament that “uncertainty regarding the effect, if any, of the Blakely opinion on [New Jersey’s] ordinary term sentencing system has had a paralyzing effect on sentencing judges, defense attorneys, and prosecutors,” the New Jersey Supreme Court recently agreed to review three major Appellate Division Apprendi and/or Blakely rulings on an expedited schedule.
NJ attorney Steve Sanders — who has been involved in these cases as an amicus for the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey — has been kind enough to pass along some of the briefs in these cases. For the interested reader, I have provided these briefs for downloading below. Among the notable aspects of the briefs is that the defendants say that Booker shows that Blakely is applicable to NJ’s sentencing laws, while the State argues that Booker reinforces its argument that NJ’s scheme is perfectly constitutional.
Download nj_state_brief_in_natale.pdf