Opinion
No. 57799-9-I.
April 23, 2007.
Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court for King County, No. 05-1-05499-5, Linda Lau, J., entered February 23, 2006.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Kelly Jorgensen appeals the life sentence imposed following his conviction for first degree assault. He contends the Sixth Amendment and the Washington State Constitution require jury findings beyond a reasonable doubt of prior convictions used to impose a life sentence under the Persistent Offender Accountability Act (POAA). That contention is controlled by several binding State Supreme Court decisions. See e.g., State v. Smith, 150 Wn.2d 135, 143, 75 P.3d 934 (2003); State v. Wheeler, 145 Wn.2d 116, 123-24, 34 P.3d 799 (2001). Jorgensen's challenges to those decisions must be made to the Supreme Court.
Jorgensen next contends the POAA violates the single subject rule and must be discarded in its entirety. This argument was rejected in State v. Thorne, 129 Wn.2d 736, 921 P.2d 514 (1996). Jorgensen argues, however, that City of Burien v. Kiga, 144 Wn.2d 819, 31 P.3d 659 (2001), and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 v. State, 142 Wn.2d 183, 11 P.3d 762, 27 P.3d 608 (2000) require a different result. But those cases concerned ballot titles containing several subjects. Initiative 593's ballot title, by contrast, contained a single subject. Also, Amalgamated cites Thorne repeatedly and with approval. Thus, Thorne remains the law. Affirmed.