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The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States grants jury trial rights to criminal defendants.  In Ring v. Arizona, the Court considered whether a trial judge may impose the death penalty and therefore increase a criminal defendant’’s jury imposed sentence after a jury finds the defendant guilty of first-degree murder.  The Court held that it was unconstitutional for a sentencing judge, sitting without a jury, to increase a defendant’’s sentence.  In doing so, the Court partially overruled its prior decision in Walton v. Arizona, which held constitutional the judicial consideration of aggravating and mitigating factors in criminal sentencing. . . .