Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-1569.ZO.html
Timestamp: 2018-01-23 20:19:24
Document Index: 213854859

Matched Legal Cases: ['§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§922', '§924', '§6460', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§924', '§312', '§112', '§924', '§924']

In an earlier case the Court determined that an analogous machinegun provision in a previous version of §924 constituted an element of an offense to be proved to the jury. Castillo v. United States , 530 U. S. 120 (2000) . The Castillo decision, however, addressed the statute as it existed before congressional amendments made in 1998. And in a case after Castillo , the brandishing provision in the post-1998 version of §924 was held to provide a sentencing factor, not an element of the offense. Harris v. United States , 536 U. S. 545 (2002) . In light of the 1998 amendments and the Harris decision, the question of how to interpret §924’s machinegun provision is considered once more in the instant case.
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed. It looked primarily to Castillo , 530 U. S. 120 , which held that the machinegun provision in an earlier version of §924(c) constituted an element of an offense, not a sentencing factor. The court noted that the statute under consideration in Castillo had been revised by Congress, “break[ing] what was a single run-on sentence into subparagraphs,” and it acknowledged that the earlier repealed version of the statute was “slightly more favorable to the [respondents] than the current version[,] but not markedly so.” 542 F. 3d 921, 925 (2008). It found “no evidence that the breaking up of the sentence into the present subdivisions or recasting of language was anything more than a current trend—probably for ease of reading—to convert lengthy sentences in criminal statutes into subsections in the fashion of the tax code.” Id., at 926. The court concluded: “Absent a clearer or more dramatic change in language or legislative history expressing a specific intent to assign judge or jury functions, we think that Castillo is close to binding,” and any reconsideration of the issue should be left to this Court. Ibid.; see also Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/American Express, Inc. , 490 U. S. 477, 484 (1989) (“If a precedent of this Court has direct application in a case, yet appears to rest on reasons rejected in some other line of decisions, the Court of Appeals should follow the case which directly controls, leaving to this Court the prerogative of overruling its own decisions”).
Elements of a crime must be charged in an indictment and proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Hamling v. United States , 418 U. S. 87, 117 (1974) ; Jones v. United States , 526 U. S. 227, 232 (1999) . Sentencing factors, on the other hand, can be proved to a judge at sentencing by a preponderance of the evidence. See McMillan v. Pennsylvania , 477 U. S. 79, 9192 (1986) . Though one exception has been established, see Almendarez-Torres v. United States , 523 U. S. 224, 228 (1998) , “ ‘[i]t is unconstitutional for a legislature to remove from the jury the assessment of facts that increase the prescribed range of penalties to which a criminal defendant is exposed.’ ” Apprendi v. New Jersey , 530 U. S. 466, 490 (2000) (quoting Jones , supra, at 252253 ( Stevens , J., concurring)). In other words, while sentencing factors may guide or confine a judge’s discretion in sentencing an offender “ within the range prescribed by statute,” Apprendi, supra, at 481, judge-found sentencing factors cannot increase the maximum sentence a defendant might otherwise receive based purely on the facts found by the jury.
Subject to this constitutional constraint, whether a given fact is an element of the crime itself or a sentencing factor is a question for Congress. When Congress is not explicit, as is often the case because it seldom directly addresses the distinction between sentencing factors and elements, courts look to the provisions and the framework of the statute to determine whether a fact is an element or a sentencing factor. Almendarez-Torres, supra, at 228. In examining whether the machinegun provision in §924 is an element or a sentencing factor, the analysis must begin with this Court’s previous examination of the question in Castillo .
In Castillo , the Court considered a prior version of §924, which provided:
In determining whether the machinegun provision in the just-quoted version of §924 constituted an element or a sentencing factor, the Court in Castillo observed that the bare statutory language was “neutral.” 530 U. S., at 124. It examined five factors directed at determining congressional intent: (1) language and structure, (2) tradition, (3) risk of unfairness, (4) severity of the sentence, and (5) legislative history. Id. , at 124131. The Court unanimously concluded that the machinegun provision provided an element of an offense, noting that the first four factors favored treating it as such while legislative history did not significantly favor either side. Ibid.
The amendment had been enacted when the Court considered Castillo , supra , at 125, but the pre-1998 version of the statute was at issue there. The instant case concerns the post-1998 (and current) version of the statute, which provides:
<tab> The 1998 amendment did make substantive changes to the statute, to be discussed below; but for purposes of the present case the most apparent effect of the amendment was to divide what was once a lengthy principal sentence into separate subparagraphs. This Court’s observation in considering the first Castillo factor, that “Congress placed the element ‘uses or carries a firearm’ and the word ‘machinegun’ in a single sentence, not broken up with dashes or separated into subsections,” 530 U. S. , at 124125, no longer holds true. Aside from this new structure, however, the 1998 amendment of §924 did nothing to affect the second through fifth Castillo factors. Each of the factors, except for legislative history (which, assuming its relevance, remains relatively silent), continues to favor the conclusion that the machinegun provision is an element of an offense.
Legal tradition and past congressional practice are the second Castillo factor. The factor is to be consulted when, as here, a statute’s text is unclear as to whether certain facts constitute elements or sentencing factors. Sentencing factors traditionally involve characteristics of the offender—such as recidivism, cooperation with law enforcement, or acceptance of responsibility. Id., at 126. Characteristics of the offense itself are traditionally treated as elements, and the use of a machinegun under §924(c) lies “closest to the heart of the crime at issue.” Id., at 127. This is no less true today than it was 10 years ago in Castillo . Unsurprisingly, firearm type is treated as an element in a number of statutes, as “numerous gun crimes make substantive distinctions between weapons such as pistols and machineguns.” Ibid.; see, e.g., 18 U. S. C. §§922(a)(4), and 922( o )(1).
The argument is not persuasive. The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, 98 Stat. 1987, establishing the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, was enacted four years before the version of §924 under review in Castillo, see Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, §6460, 102 Stat. 4373. While the resulting Guidelines were not effective until 1987, this was still before the 1988 enactment of the statute at issue in Castillo , and 13 years before this Court’s conclusion in Castillo that firearm type is traditionally treated as an offense element. The Government cannot claim the benefit of any shift in how the law traditionally treats firearm type from the Guidelines, for that supposed shift would have occurred before the 1988 version of §924 was enacted. The Guidelines were explicitly taken into account when this Court analyzed the traditions in Castillo . 530 U. S., at 126 (discussing Federal Sentencing Guidelines in determining what traditionally qualifies as a sentencing factor).
The third Castillo factor, potential unfairness, was unchanged by the restructuring of §924. The Court explained in Castillo that treating the machinegun provision as a sentencing factor “might unnecessarily produce a conflict between the judge and the jury” because “a jury may well have to decide which of several weapons” a defendant used. Id. , at 128. The concern was that the judge may not know which weapon the jurors determined a defendant used, and “a judge’s later, sentencing-related decision that the defendant used the machinegun, rather than, say, the pistol, might conflict with the jury’s belief that he actively used the pistol.” Ibid. This same concern arises under the current version of §924, where jurors might have to determine which among several weapons a defendant used, carried, or possessed in furtherance of a crime.
The Government’s response, that permitting a judge to make this finding would “streamlin[e] guilt-stage proceedings, without interfering with the accuracy of fact-finding,” Brief for United States 33, is unconvincing. It does not address the particular unfairness concern expressed in Castillo , which was not alleviated by the restructuring of §924. And the Government does not suggest that it would be subjected to any unfairness if the machinegun provision continues to be treated as an element.
The fourth Castillo factor, the severity of the sentence accompanying a finding that a defendant carried a machinegun under §924, was also unaffected by the statute’s restructuring. A finding that a defendant carried a machinegun under §924, in contrast to some less dangerous firearm, vaults a defendant’s mandatory minimum sentence from 5 to 30 years, Castillo, supra, at 131, or from 7 to 30 years if, as in this case, the firearm was brandished, §924(c)(1)(A)(ii). This is not akin to the “incremental changes in the minimum” that one would “expect to see in provisions meant to identify matters for the sentencing judge’s consideration,” Harris , 536 U. S., at 554 (from 5 years to 7 years); it is a drastic, sixfold increase that strongly suggests a separate substantive crime.
This is a distinction in theory, perhaps, but not in practice. Neither the Government nor any party or amicus has identified a single defendant whose conviction under §924 for possessing or brandishing a nonspecific firearm led to a sentence approaching the 30-year sentence that is required when the firearm is a machinegun. Respondents advise, without refutation, that most courts impose the mandatory minimum of 7 years’ imprisonment for brandishing a nonspecific weapon and the longest sentence that has come to the litigants’ or the Court’s attention is 14 years. Brief for Respondent O’Brien 46, 48 (citing United States v. Batts , 317 Fed. Appx. 329 (CA4 2009) (per curiam) ); see also Harris , supra , at 578 (T homas , J., dissenting). Indeed, in the instant case, Burgess received the statutory minimum 7-year sentence, and O’Brien received only 18 months more than that. Once the machinegun enhancement was off the table, the Government itself did not seek anything approaching 30-year terms, instead requesting 12-year terms for each respondent.
Four of the five factors the Court relied upon in Castillo point in the same direction they did 10 years ago. How the 1998 amendment affects the remaining factor—the provision’s language and structure—requires closer examination.
In Castillo , the Court interpreted §924(c) in its original version, though Congress had at that point already amended the provision. Here, the applicable principle is that Congress does not enact substantive changes sub silentio . See Director of Revenue of Mo. v. CoBank ACB , 531 U. S. 316, 323 (2001) . In light of Castillo’ s determination that the machinegun provision in the previous version of §924 is an element, a change should not be inferred “[a]bsent a clear indication from Congress of a change in policy.” Grogan v. Garner , 498 U. S. 279, 290 (1991) ; see also Rivers v. Roadway Express, Inc. , 511 U. S. 298, 313, n. 12 (1994) (“[W]hen this Court construes a statute, it is explaining its understanding of what the statute has meant continuously since the date when it became law”).
The Government argues that the 1998 amendment restructuring §924(c) demonstrates the congressional judgment to reclassify the machinegun provision as a sentencing factor, rather than as an offense element. But the better understanding, as the Government acknowledged in its submission in Castillo , is that “there is nothing to suggest that the 1998 amendments were intended to change, rather than simply reorganize and clarify, [§924]’s treatment of firearm type.” Brief for United States, O. T. 1999, No. 99–658, p. 41. A closer review of the 1998 amendment confirms this.
The changes were a direct response to this Court’s decision in Bailey v. United States , 516 U. S. 137 (1995) , which held that the word “use” in the pre-amendment version of §924 “must connote more than mere possession of a firearm by a person who commits a drug offense.” Id. , at 143. The Court in Bailey went on to observe that, “[h]ad Congress intended possession alone to trigger liability under §924(c)(1), it easily could have so provided” by using the word “possess,” as it had so frequently done in other statutory provisions. Ibid. Three years later, Congress made the change and added the word “possesses” to the principal paragraph. Congress additionally provided mandatory sentences above the 5-year minimum depending on whether and how the firearm was used. Sections 924(c)(1)(A)(ii) and (iii) provide sentencing enhancements for brandishing or discharging the firearm, and the Court has held that these enhancements are sentencing factors to be found by a judge. See Harris , 536 U. S., at 552556; see also Dean v. United States , 556 U. S. ___, ___ (2009) (slip op., at 5) (referring to the brandishing and discharge provisions as “sentencing factors”). The 1998 amendment was colloquially known as the “Bailey Fix Act.” 144 Cong. Rec. 26608 (1998) (remarks of Sen. DeWine); see also Dean, supra, at ___ (S tevens , J., dissenting) (slip op., at 3).
The Government stresses a third, structural, difference in the statute, pointing out that the machinegun provision now resides in a separate subsection, §924(c)(1)(B), whereas it once resided in the principal paragraph that unmistakably lists offense elements. This structural or stylistic change, though, does not provide a “clear indication” that Congress meant to alter its treatment of machineguns as an offense element. See Grogan , 498 U. S., at 290. A more logical explanation for the restructuring is that it broke up a lengthy principal paragraph, which exceeded 250 words even before adding more to it for the Bailey fix, into a more readable statute. This is in step with current legislative drafting guidelines, which advise drafters to break lengthy statutory provisions into separate subsections that can be read more easily. See House Legislative Counsel’s Manual on Drafting Style, HLC No. 104.1, §312, pp. 2325 (1995); Senate Office of the Legislative Counsel, Legislative Drafting Manual §112, pp. 1011 (1997).
While the Court has indicated that placing factors in separate subsections is one way Congress might signal that it is treating them as sentencing factors as opposed to elements, Castillo , 530 U. S., at 124125, Harris , 536 U. S., at 552553, it has rejected the view that this structural consideration predominates even when other factors point in the other direction, id., at 553 (“[E]ven if a statute ‘has a look to it suggesting that the numbered subsections are only sentencing provisions,’ ” the Court will not ignore “compelling evidence to the contrary” (quoting Jones , 526 U. S., at 232)). For instance, in Jones the Court found that the federal carjacking statute set forth elements of multiple offenses despite a structure similar to the statute at issue here. Id., at 232239. And in Harris , the Court was careful to point out that, unlike the case at bar, the other Castillo factors “reinforce[d] the single-offense interpretation implied by the statute’s structure.” 536 U. S., at 553.
To be sure, there are some arguments in favor of treating the machinegun provision as a sentencing factor. The current structure of §924(c) is more favorable to that interpretation than was true in Castillo , particularly because the machinegun provision is now positioned between the sentencing factors provided in (A)(ii) and (iii), see Harris , supra , at 552556, and the recidivist provisions in (C)(i) and (ii), which are typically sentencing factors as well. See Almendarez-Torres , 523 U. S., at 230. These points are overcome, however, by the substantial weight of the other Castillo factors and the principle that Congress would not enact so significant a change without a clear indication of its purpose to do so. The evident congressional purpose was to amend the statute to counteract Bailey and to make the statute more readable but not otherwise to alter the substance of the statute. The analysis and holding of Castillo control this case. The machinegun provision in §924(c)(1)(B)(ii) is an element of an offense.