Expanded right to jury trial means more appeals by criminal defendants

By LAURIE ASSEO
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is seeing the effects of last summer's groundbreaking ruling which expands jury-trial rights in certain criminal cases: A pile of appeals by defendants who say their sentences are unfair.

The justices ruled that virtually any question that could boost someone's maximum sentence, such as whether a crime was motivated by racial hate, must be decided by a trial jury. Judges no longer can decide such issues on their own during sentencing.

In essence, the court said the constitutional right to trial by jury means what it says, said New York lawyer Gerald Lefcourt, former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. That's been bedrock U.S. justice since the Founding Fathers.

There are dozens of cases that have come down the pike already challenging sentences as a result of the ruling, said Miami criminal defense lawyer Neal Sonnett. However, he added, Whether it has far-reaching effects is yet to be determined.

The ruling, issued in June, said a New Jersey man who fired shots into a black family's home was entitled to have a jury decide whether he acted out of hate and could be sent to prison longer than the ordinary maximum.

New appeals citing that decision are rolling in to the Supreme Court, and the justices already have ordered lower courts to take a new look at a number of cases. Lower courts have decided some defendants are entitled to a new sentencing.

Many of those cases involve drugs. Until now, judges often have decided such issues as how much cocaine someone sold: more cocaine can lead to a longer prison sentence. But many appeals say those decisions now must be made by the jury if the drug quantity could boost the maximum sentence.

Other appeals say juries must decide such issues as the amount of loss in a fraud case, or a defendant's use of a gun, if that factor would allow a longer maximum prison term.

Prosecutors also are figuring out how to comply with the ruling in future cases.

Justice Department officials say the ruling will require prosecutors to prove more facts to juries when those facts would allow a longer maximum sentence.

Monmouth County, N.J., prosecutor John Kaye said many state laws allow higher maximum sentences if prosecutors show, for example, that someone is a career criminal, is involved with a street gang or committed a crime by using a stolen car.

All those things will be tested now, Kaye said, adding that proving such issues to a jury instead of a judge would be a little harder, but we'll work with it.

The whole issue stems from the Constitution's Sixth Amendment guarantee of a jury trial for criminal defendants. Even with that guarantee, trial judges traditionally have had wide leeway to impose sentences by considering all of a defendant's actions, even if they were not charged or proved to the jury.