Robert A. Lopez, Petitioner v. the People of the State of Colorado, Respondent

Summary

The Supreme Court of Colorado held that Colorado's extraordinary-aggravation statute, section 18-1.3-401(6), is constitutional as properly applied and upheld Lopez's twelve-year aggravated possession sentence because it rested on Blakely-exempt prior-conviction facts — the jury's vehicular homicide and excessive-alcohol verdicts entered before sentencing — even though the trial court also relied on unadmitted deferred-judgment conduct. Rejecting the prosecution's 'simple range' characterization, the court announced that a judge may not exceed the presumptive range based on the judge's own fact-finding unless the facts were found by a jury, admitted by the defendant, covered by a stipulation to judicial fact-finding, or amounted to prior convictions, and that a guilty plea and advisement alone do not waive that protection. Because Lopez's case was pending on direct review when Blakely issued, the new rule applied retroactively, and the court affirmed the court of appeals' judgment on other grounds. Justice Coats, joined by Justices Kourlis and Rice, concurred only in the judgment, arguing the majority misconstrued Blakely and that the full mitigated-to-double range is available on conviction alone without any Sixth Amendment violation.