California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Zamora, B191529 (Cal. App. 8/22/2007), B191529 (Cal. App. 2007):
In this case, defendant's constitutional right to a jury trial was not violated by the trial court's imposition of the upper term sentence for his conviction of possessing a controlled substance for sale. Defendant admitted that he had two prior convictions for robbery and possession of a controlled substance. As a result, the admission constituted at least one legally sufficient aggravating circumstance. In addition, the trial court noted that defendant had a juvenile sustained petition for burglary and served prior prison terms. The "`statutory maximum'" sentence to which defendant was exposed was the upper term. (People v. Black, supra, ___ Cal.4th at p. ___.)
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