Eighth Circuit discusses scope of prior conviction exception

In a case with somewhat silly facts, the Eighth Circuit today in US v. Carrillo-Beltran, No. 04-3177 (8th Cir. Sept. 29, 2005) (available here) explained that a “court must be allowed to determine not only the ‘fact of a prior conviction’ but also those facts so ‘intimately related’ to the prior conviction to fall within the Apprendi exception.”  Of course, this ruling raises questions as to what facts are “intimately related” to a prior conviction to allow for judicial factfinding (which, perhaps, is the converse of the questions raised after the Supreme Court in Shepard cautioned against judges finding facts “too far removed from the conclusive significance of a prior judicial record.”)