Summary
U. S. Supreme Court decision upholding a judge’s authority to require a defendant convicted of multiple felonies to serve the sentences for each crime consecutively. Thomas Eugene Ice, an apartment manager, was convicted for twice using his pass key to burglarize a resident’s unit and molest her 11-year-old daughter. Ice was convicted on two counts of first-degree burglary and four counts of first-degree sexual abuse. The defense argued that the jury must make the findings that Oregon law requires before a judge may order that sentences run consecutively. Unconvinced, the judge ordered the consecutive sentences. Oregon’s Court of Appeals affirmed the decision; but the state supreme court later overturned that holding and Ice’s sentence, ruling that earlier U. S. Supreme Court decisions supported the defendant’s claim. CJLF joined the Supreme Court’s review of the case to argue that the Oregon court improperly extended a rule announced to prevent judges from punishing the defendant for a higher offense than the jury found. The court’s 5-4 decision agreed, in a decision that consecutive sentencing remains within the trial judge’s discretion. [CJLF brief in PDF.]
