Ring v. Arizona

Arizona (plaintiff) prosecuted Timothy Ring (defendant) for murder, punishable by either life imprisonment or death; the jury convicted him, but under Arizona law only a judge, not the jury, could find the aggravating factors needed to impose death. The judge found such factors and sentenced Ring to death, and the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve tension between an earlier decision (Walton) allowing judges to find death-penalty aggravating factors and a later decision (Apprendi) requiring juries to find any fact that increases a sentence beyond the otherwise-applicable range.