State v. Soto
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for fifty years. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction but vacated his sentence, holding that Kansas’ hard fifty sentencing scheme violates the Sixth Amendment to the federal Constitution as interpreted in Alleyne v. United States and Ring v. Arizona because it permits a judge to find by a preponderance of the evidence the existence of one or more aggravating factors necessary to impose an increased mandatory minimum sentence, rather than requiring a jury to find the existence of the aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt. Remanded for resentencing.
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