Blakely and the Legal Olfactory Test

In law, there is such a thing as a "smell test." Sometimes it comes from what is said or written by someone, other times it comes from who that someone is. My first post in this blog asked the following question: "Will defendants as a whole ultimately benefit from Blakely or will they be worse off?" In other words, despite the fact that Blakely seemed to be to the benefit of criminal defendants, there was a bad smell to it. When I then read the US v. Croxford opinion by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Cassell, I thought his approach was a stinking bad omen for criminal defendants. Today, there is a story here about Judge Cassell which only confirms my smell test, and his bio is here. Judge Cassell appears to be a very bright judge of the worst kind: one of those who use their smarts to push an agenda, and his is a very anti criminal defendant one. I hope I am wrong about him and my long term view of Blakely, but that is what I smell now.