Brief filed: 04/09/2018
Documents
Garvin v. New York
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 17-1320
Prior Decision
Decision below 30 N.Y.3d 174 (N.Y. Oct. 24, 2017)
Argument(s)
New York’s persistent felony offender sentencing scheme violates Apprendi. Apprendi applies broadly to a host of sentencing schemes, as multiple states have recognized. The statute’s plain language and history confirm that it mandates impermissible judicial factfinding based on a preponderance of the evidence. Prior felony conviction are not the “sole determinant” of a persistent non-violent felony offender sentence. Sentencing judges engage in the impermissible factfinding in practice. The New York Court of Appeals’ reasoning does not square with Apprendi and its progeny.
Author(s)
Mark C. Fleming and Mark G. Matuschak, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Boston, MA; Tiffany E. Payne and Jane Shim, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, New York, NY; Jeffrey T. Green and Lindsay Lewis, NACDL, Washington, DC; Richard D. Willstatter, NYSACDL, White Plains, NY.
