[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

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No. 10-13702

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D.C. Docket No. 1:08-cr-00371-ODE-AJB-2

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff - Appellee,

versus

STEVEN BERNARD JORDAN, 

a.k.a. Steven Dodson, 

a.k.a. Ladarius Timmons, 

 Defendant - Appellant. 

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No. 10-13703

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D.C. Docket No. 1:08-cr-00371-ODE-AJB-4

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff - Appellee,

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versus

BENJAMIN D. SMARR, 

 Defendant - Appellant. 

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Appeals from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Georgia

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(September 25, 2013)

ON REMAND FROM THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

Before WILSON and EDMONDSON, Circuit Judges, and VINSON,* District 

Judge.

PER CURIAM:

This case is before us on remand from the Supreme Court for consideration 

in light of Alleyne v. United States, — U.S. —, 133 S. Ct. 2151 (2013). Following 

a jury trial, Steven Bernard Jordan and Benjamin D. Smarr were found guilty of 

both conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 

U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A)(ii)(II), and 846. In a special verdict form, the 

jury found Jordan and Smarr responsible for 500 grams or more of cocaine but 

declined to find them responsible for the greater amount of five kilograms or 

 

* Honorable C. Roger Vinson, United States District Judge for the Northern District of 

Florida, sitting by designation.

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more.

1 Nonetheless, the district judge found at sentencing that the government had 

established by a preponderance of the evidence that (contrary to what the jury had 

found) the defendants were responsible for five kilograms or more of cocaine. The 

district court accordingly sentenced Jordan to the statutory minimum sentence of 

240 months’ incarceration. Smarr, who had no criminal record at the time, was 

sentenced to the statutory mandatory minimum of 10 years’ imprisonment.

Jordan and Smarr appealed, arguing, inter alia, that “the quantity of cocaine 

that was attributed to them at sentencing” was “contrary to the jury verdict.” 

United States v. Jordan, 488 F. App’x 358, 365 n.9 (11th Cir. 2012) (per curiam), 

vacated, 133 S. Ct. 2852 (2013). We affirmed, finding that this particular 

argument merited no discussion because it was “foreclosed by binding circuit 

precedent.” Id.; see Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490, 120 S. Ct. 2348, 

2362–63 (2000) (holding that “[o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact 

that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum 

must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt”); Spero v. 

United States, 375 F.3d 1285, 1286 (11th Cir. 2004) (per curiam) (stating that “the 

Apprendi rule does not apply in minimum mandatory circumstances where the 

 

1 The special verdict form permitted the jury to find the defendants responsible for 

cocaine (1) weighing less than 500 grams, (2) weighing 500 grams or more, or (3) weighing 5 

kilograms or more.

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enhanced minimum mandatory sentence does not exceed the non-enhanced 

maximum sentence”). 

The Supreme Court then decided Alleyne, in which it overruled its previous 

decision in Harris v. United States, 536 U.S. 545, 122 S. Ct. 2406 (2002), and 

concluded that:

[a]ny fact that, by law, increases the penalty for a crime is an 

“element” that must be submitted to the jury and found beyond a 

reasonable doubt. Mandatory minimum sentences increase the 

penalty for a crime. It follows, then, that any fact that increases the 

mandatory minimum is an “element” that must be submitted to the 

jury.

133 S. Ct. at 2155 (citation omitted). Alleyne compels that we vacate Jordan and 

Smarr’s sentences and remand this case to the district court so that they may be 

resentenced. At trial, the jury found that Jordan and Smarr were responsible for 

500 grams or more of cocaine, but expressly declined to attribute five or more 

kilograms of cocaine to these defendants. The district judge, however, found by a 

preponderance of the evidence that Jordan and Smarr were responsible for five or 

more kilograms of cocaine, and used that amount to increase the mandatory 

minimum sentence applicable to them. Their sentences thus run afoul of Alleyne’s 

command. Accordingly, we VACATE the sentences of Jordan and Smarr and 

REMAND so that the district court can resentence them in accordance with 

Alleyne.

VACATED AND REMANDED.

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