Opinion ID: 784147
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Cross-Referencing Challenge.

Text: 19 Like the defendant in Stubbs, Helton claims that the district court sentenced him as if he had committed a crime (attempted murder) for which he was never charged and for which no jury found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Like the defendant in Stubbs, he claims that the Guidelines may not be applied to increase his mandatory minimum sentence in this manner, unless a jury first finds beyond a reasonable doubt that he engaged in the alleged conduct. And like the defendant in Stubbs, he claims that any such sentencing violates his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. 20 Stubbs, however, is no longer good law. Neither that decision nor the precedents upon which it relied, see United States v. Ramirez, 242 F.3d 348 (6th Cir.2001) and United States v. Flowal, 234 F.3d 932 (6th Cir.2000), have survived a recent Supreme Court decision delineating the scope of Apprendi. In Harris v. United States, 536 U.S. 545, 122 S.Ct. 2406, 153 L.Ed.2d 524 (2002), decided after Stubbs, the Supreme Court held that the constitutional mandates of Apprendi do not apply to the Sentencing Guidelines when the defendant's sentence remains below the maximum sentence authorized by statute. In that setting, the Court concluded, the Constitution permits a judge to make factual findings that increase a defendant's mandatory minimum sentence under the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard. Id. at 568-69, 122 S.Ct. 2406. Within the range authorized by the jury's verdict, the Court reasoned, the political system may channel judicial discretion — and rely upon judicial expertise — by requiring defendants to serve minimum terms after judges make certain factual findings. Id. at 567, 122 S.Ct. 2406. Under Harris, once the jury has determined guilt, the district court may sentence the defendant to the statutory minimum, the statutory maximum, or anything in between, based on its (proper) application of the Guidelines and based on its (permissible) preponderance-of-the-evidence findings under the Guidelines. So long as the judge does not sentence the defendant beyond the maximum levels authorized by the statute under which the defendant was convicted, Harris makes clear that the district court does not run afoul of Apprendi or the constitutional rights that it protects. 21 Recent precedent from this Court confirms this conclusion. As we recently have said, a fact that merely activates or increases a statutorily mandated minimum sentence may, at the legislature's discretion, be submitted to a judge and proved only by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Chapman, 305 F.3d 530, 536 (6th Cir.2002). See also United States v. Copeland, 321 F.3d 582, 603 (6th Cir. 2003) (holding that under Harris a defendant cannot demonstrate an Apprendi violation where he has been sentenced to a term of years encompassed by [the statute under which he is charged]) (emphasis in original); United States v. Lawrence, 308 F.3d 623, 635 (6th Cir.2002) (noting that while this Court had held in several opinions that Apprendi applied to statutory minimums, Harris overruled that conclusion). In the aftermath of Harris, we also have specifically concluded that  Flowal, Ramirez ... and all other cases before this Circuit in which we have held that Apprendi applies to mandatory minimum sentences, are overruled to the extent they conflict with Harris.... United States v. Leachman, 309 F.3d 377, 383 (6th Cir. 2002). The decisions upon which Stubbs relied did not survive Harris. It follows that the same is true of Stubbs. 22 Applied here, Harris and our recent precedents establish that the district court's sentence fell well within constitutional limits. In this instance, the district court on remand sentenced Helton to consecutive sentences totaling 198 months. As no single sentence exceeded the maximum permitted by statute under any of the three counts on which the jury convicted him, Helton's constitutional challenge cannot succeed.