Murillo

BACKGROUND

Peter Santos Murillo pled guilty in 1998 in Washington state court to one count of harassment in violation of R.C.W. § 9A.46.020(2)(b), and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree in violation of R.C.W. § 9.41.040(2)(b). Each crime is considered a class C felony punishable by a term of imprisonment up to five years. R.C.W. § 9A.20.021(1)(c). Under Washington’s sentencing guidelines, based on Murillo’s “Seriousness Level” of III and 12838 UNITED STATES v. MURILLO his “Offender Score” of 2 for his harassment conviction and 3 for his unlawful firearm possession conviction, Murillo’s actual maximum possible term of imprisonment was 12 months. R.C.W. §§ 9.94A.510, 9.94A.515. Murillo was sen- tenced to a term of 10 months’ imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently.

In 2004, Murillo was indicted in federal court and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The indictment was premised on Murillo’s two underlying Washington state convictions. Rely- ing on Blakely, Murillo argued the indictment should be dis- missed because he had not been convicted of any crimes for which he could…