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Name: People v. Abercrombie
Case #: C051865
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 03/24/2008
Summary

Because parole status is a recidivism factor arising from a prior conviction, a defendant has no Sixth Amendment right to determination of parole status when it is used to enhance a sentence. Appellant was convicted of several counts of molestation and sentenced to an aggregate sentence comprised of the upper term and consecutive sentences, with the court justifying the upper term on the basis that appellant was on parole at the time of the offenses. The appellate court affirmed, finding that parole status was a recidivism factor because it relates to a conviction, can be established by a judicial review of the record, and does not relate to the commission of the offense. Thus, it falls within the Blakely/Cunningham recidivism exception to the right to a jury trial for determination of sentencing factors.