More noteworthy state Blakely developments

It now seems that not a day goes by without a noteworthy state Blakely ruling coming on-line.  This afternoon, I found at least three such cases in Strong v. State, 2004 WL 2481190 (Ind. App. Nov. 5, 2004), and People v. Fogle, 2004 Colo. App. LEXIS 2004 (Colo. App. Nov. 4, 2004), and People v. Hogan, 2004 Colo. App. LEXIS 2001 (Colo. App. Nov. 4, 2004). (There are also, no doubt, a number of recent additional noteworthy California cases, but I have given up trying to keep up with doings there now that over 125 on-line Blakely cases come from that state alone!)

As seems often to be the case with state Blakely decisions, Strong and Fogle and Hogan all reach noteworthy legal conclusions while being rich with too many details and dicta to effectively summarize (especially on a Friday afternoon at the end of a tiring week). I hope it suffices to note that Strong reverses a sentence on Blakely grounds and you can read more details at INCourts here.  Meanwhile, Fogle and Hogan affirm sentences over Blakely objections: Fogle is based on a seemingly shaky conclusion the court could "properly treat counsel's statements as an admission by defendant" to hold that "defendant admitted the fact on which his enhanced sentence was based;" Hogan seems grounded more solidly on the conclusion that enhancement of the defendant's sentence did "not require proof of any fact other than the elements of kidnapping-robbery and aggravated robbery, which were necessarily proved beyond a reasonable doubt, as [was] apparent from the jury's verdict."