Phillips v. Artus

Amicus curiae brief of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NYSACDL) and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) in support of habeas petitioners on rehearing en banc

Brief filed: 06/17/2010

Documents

Phillips v. Artus

2nd Circuit Court of Appeals; Case No. 06-3350

Argument(s)

Amici urge the en banc court to uphold the panel decision in Besser v. Walsh, 601 F.3d 163 (2d Cir. 2010), which held that New York's persistent felony offender sentencing scheme's provision that a court, not a jury, make the necessary fact findings to support enhanced sentences runs afoul of the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury, as applied to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Author(s)

Marshall A. Mintz, Mintz & Oppenheim LLP, New York, NY and Richard D. Willstatter, Green & Willstatter, White Plains, NY.