Inmate’s court victory doesn’t help in appeal

Grant County felon Ralph Blakely improved the lives of scores of criminals – but not his own – when he won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision two years ago.

The 70-year-old convict must continue serving a 35-year prison sentence, the Spokane branch of the Washington Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. A three-judge panel rejected all of Blakely’s complaints about his trial.

A jury convicted Blakely in March 2005 of two counts of soliciting first-degree murder while he was in prison for kidnapping his wife, who later divorced him.

Blakely had pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping for forcing his wife into a wooden box at knifepoint in 1998 and hauling her to Montana in the back of his pickup. He later tried to hire one of his newly released prison buddies to kill his wife and his daughter, whom he blamed for his arrest.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Blakely’s nearly finished kidnapping sentence, but Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell filed the murder-solicitation charges before Blakely could be released.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court decision created chaos in courts throughout Washington and at least eight other states with similar sentencing-guideline systems, as well as federal courts. Numerous inmates negotiated substantial reductions in their prison time when their original sentences were overturned.

The basis of the high court ruling was that Blakely and other defendants received above-standard sentences because of aggravating factors – deliberate cruelty in Blakely’s case – determined by judges. The Supreme Court said defendants have a constitutional right to have a jury determine any fact used to determine punishment.