Appellant entered a guilty plea to failing to register, and admitted two prior strikes. The court granted his Romero motion and struck one of the strike priors, sentencing appellant to seven years in state prison, the upper term for the registration offense doubled, plus one year for the prison prior. One day prior to filing the opinion on appellant’s Wende brief, the United States Supreme Court decided Blakely v. Washington. Appellant filed a petition for rehearing within which he argued that his sentence violated the standards set forth in Blakely and Apprendi because the court imposed the upper term based on factual finding neither admitted by appellant nor found by a jury. Upon rehearing, the appellate court here concluded that appellant had not forfeited his Blakely claim for failing to object in the trial court. However, since appellant admitted the facts which authorized the imposition of a maximum statutory sentence of 25 years to life, and appellant’s seven-year sentence was less than that statutory maximum sentence, the sentence did not violate Blakely.
Case Summaries