Interesting Colorado opinion applying Blakely

The Colorado Supreme Court — which recently granted cert on six different cases raising various advanced Blakely issues — yesterday issued an interesting opinion in DeHerrera v. People, No. 04SC446 (Colo. Nov. 7, 2005) (available here). Recall that, back in May, the Colorado Supreme Court in Lopez issued long and thoughtful opinion applying Blakely to Colorado’s presumptive sentencing scheme (basics here, commentary here).  The DeHerrera opinion follows up, and here is the court’s official summary of its work:

The Supreme Court holds that sentencing court’s reliance on one Blakely-exempt or Blakely-compliant aggravating sentencing factor is sufficient to support an enhanced sentence as stated in Lopez v. People, 113 P.3d 713 (Colo. 2005).  Affirming the judgment of the court of appeals, the Supreme Court holds that the sentencing court permissibly aggravated defendant’s sentence based on his prior felony convictions, which are Blakely-exempt factors.