The State of Washington v. Alexander Hill Alvarado

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court affirmed Alexander Alvarado's 120-month exceptional sentence for residential burglary imposed under RCW 9.94A.535(2)(c), which permits an aggravated sentence without jury findings where a defendant's multiple current offenses and high offender score result in some current offenses going unpunished. The court held that 'punishment' under the statute relates to the sentence imposed — confinement — not merely the fact of conviction, so with an offender score of 21 several of Alvarado's felony counts would have gone unpunished within the standard range. It further held that the statute does not violate the Sixth Amendment because the 'unpunished' determination is an objective mathematical application of the sentencing grid resting solely on criminal history and the jury's verdict, falling within the prior-convictions exception and requiring no judicial fact-finding.