Legal Question in Criminal Law in Colorado

Re: sentencing enhancement

As it relates to your boyfriend's conviction, if the reason the judge enhanced his sentence was because of a prior conviction, the later U.S. Supreme Court rulings, Apprendi and Blakely, to which I believe you refer, do not apply.

If the judge based the enhancement on other facts, as I understand it now your boyfriend's sentence would still be unaffected by Blakely, at least in the Colorado courts. Only last September the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Blakely is NOT retroactive, and only applies to cases that were pending on direct review at the time that Blakely was decided.

I don't believe the U.S. Supreme Court has decided the retroactivity issue for either Blakely or Apprendi, though the trend in lower courts is almost universally against retroactivity.

That said, depending on the circumstances of your boyfriend's sentencing, it may still be an appealable issue, because of the uncertainty with the U.S. Supremes regarding Apprendi/Blakely.

Re: sentencing enhancement

Blakely, which covers sentence aggravation, is retroactive to Apprendi (2000).