Blakely "spin-offs"

A Wall Street Journal article (subscription required), this morning tells of "unproven allegations lengthening prison time."

The article relates how Laurence Braun, convicted by a New York federal jury of racketeering and conspiracy in 2002-- which merits a sentence of around 2 1/2 years-- had a judge who decided that Braun should also serve time for many of the 23 additional charges he had been acquitted of because those charges was "relevant conduct."

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider the issue of whether the Federal Sentencing Guidelines are constitutional on Oct. 4, this being the outgrowth of confusion and objections raised by the now renowned "Blakely v. Washington" case back in June.