What Lopez can teach New Jersey
May 26, 2005
In this post, I suggested that there was a lot to learned from the Colorado Supreme Court’s recent Lopez ruling applying Blakely in that state (basics here). Apparently agreeing with the sentiment, the Public Defender of New Jersey has submitted a letter brief to the New Jersey Supreme Court detailed how Lopez “flatly rejected” the sorts of arguments being put forward by the NJ Attorney General to try to spare New Jersey’s sentencing system from Blakely.
A copy of that letter brief can be downloaded below. Also the key Blakely cases before the NJ Supreme Court are described briefly and linked here, and additional background on Blakely in New Jersey can be found in prior posts here and here and here.