Waymire

This case raises a number of sentencing issues which have arisen since the United States Supreme Court's decision in Blakely v. Washington (2004) 542 U.S. 296 , 124 S.Ct. 2531 , 159 L.Ed.2d 403 .

Defendant Robert Earl Waymire pled guilty to manufacturing methamphetamine, and the trial court granted him probation. Defendant later admitted he violated probation by failing to contact his probation officer, failing to participate in a substance abuse counseling program, and possessing methamphetamine. Finding that the aggravating circumstances (numerous prior convictions of increasing seriousness, being on probation when the offense was committed, and prior unsatisfactory performance on probation) out-weighed the sole mitigating circumstance (addiction to a narcotic at the time of the offense), the trial court sentenced defendant to the upper term of seven years on the manufacturing charge. We affirm.

Relying on Blakely , defendant claims the trial court's imposition of the upper term violated his federal constitutional right to a jury trial because the trial court "impos[ed] an upper term based on its own finding that [defendants crimes were increasing in seriousness and…