On July 29, 2015, the Michigan Supreme Court held that Michigan’s sentencing guidelines violate the Sixth Amendment by creating a mandatory minimum sentence range based on judge-found facts. People v Lockridge, No 149073, 2015 Mich LEXIS 1774 (July 29, 2015) (applying Apprendi v New Jersey, 530 US 466 (2000), and Alleyne v United States, 133 S Ct 2151 (2013)).
To correct the issue, the court severed subsections 2 and 3 of MCL 769.34, making the sentencing guidelines advisory rather than requiring “substantial and compelling reason[s]” for any departure. The court’s ruling comes 10 years after United States v Booker, 543 US 220 (2005), in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a very similar provision of the federal sentencing guidelines on the same grounds.
This ruling should provide more options to defense attorneys in terms of plea negotiations, and to judges wanting more discretion to impose lighter punishments. However, more judicial discretion could result in more disparity between judges, which is why sentencing guidelines were imposed in the first place. In any event, courts will still need to consider a defendant’s guideline score as a “highly relevant” factor in sentencing. So for now, defense attorneys need to make sure they know the judge just as much as they make sure their client’s facts are scored appropriately.
The ruling will provide many defendants with an additional constitutional argument to include in their appeals. However, nothing in the court’s opinion or the statute guarantees that a new sentence would be more favorable to the defendant. So, as always, defense counsel will need to evaluate whether an appeal based on Lockridge is advisable.
For more information on the effects of Lockridge, take a look at SADO’s Lockridge FAQ sheet.
ICLE is planning an On-Demand Seminar on this decision featuring Anne Yantus, Joseph Simon, and Mark Kneisel, who will offer their insights about how Lockridge will impact your criminal law practice. A link will be posted in the ICLE Community when the seminar is available.