Colorado Supreme Court Opinions

November 19, 2018

11/19/18

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2018 CO 92. No. 16SC653. Mountjoy, Jr. v. People.

This case required the Supreme Court to determine whether the trial court’s decision to find discretionary aggravation was compliant with Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 (2004). The trial court relied on a jury finding beyond a reasonable doubt as to elements of offenses for which there were convictions to aggravate defendant’s sentences for concurrent convictions. The Court held that elements of an offense for which there is a conviction are Blakely-compliant facts because they were found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, a trial court can rely on such facts to aggravate a sentence for a concurrent conviction. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals’ judgment was affirmed on other grounds.

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