In a
unanimous Tennessee Supreme Court opinion handed down on September 26, Chief
Justice Wade outlines the historical development of state and federal
sentencing guidelines.
In short,
he observes that the 2005 amendments to Tennessee's 1989 Sentencing Act were
passed for the purpose of bringing our sentencing scheme in line with United
States Supreme Court sentencing decisions, namely
Apprendi and its progeny.
This is the first time since the passage of those amendments that the
Tennessee Supreme Court has had an opportunity to address the effect of those
Supreme Court decisions on Tennessee's standard of appellate review.
You can
read the full opinion
here.