Opinion ID: 779673
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Apprendi and Harris

Text: 19 In Apprendi, the Supreme Court held that [o]ther than a fact of 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. Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348 (emphasis added). However, the Apprendi majority also stated that it 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. It is equally clear that such facts must be established by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348 citing Jones v. U.S., 526 U.S.227, 252-53, 119 S.Ct. 1215, 143 L.Ed.2d 311 (1999) (emphasis added). While this statement cast some doubt on the belief that Apprendi was intended to apply only to enhancements of maximum penalties, the majority also expressly stated it was not overruling McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 2411, 91 L.Ed.2d 67 (1986), which upheld a state statute allowing judges to find minimum penalty enhancement factors by a preponderance of the evidence. Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 487 n. 13, 120 S.Ct. 2348. 20 Accordingly, it was unclear whether Apprendi applied to mandatory minimum sentences as well. The somewhat conflicting sentiments within the Apprendi opinion left the question open for the federal circuits. Every other circuit that had addressed the issue held that Apprendi extends only to enhancements above the statutory maximum sentence. See, e.g., U.S. v. Robinson, 241 F.3d 115, 122 (1st Cir.2001), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 130, 151 L.Ed.2d 84 (2001); U.S. v. Harris, 243 F.3d 806, 809 (4th Cir.2001); U.S. v. Keith, 230 F.3d 784, 787 (5th Cir.2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1182, 121 S.Ct. 1163, 148 L.Ed.2d 1023 (2001); U.S. v. Rodgers, 245 F.3d 961, 965-68 (7th Cir.2001); U.S. v. Aguayo-Delgado, 220 F.3d 926, 933-34 (8th Cir.2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1026, 121 S.Ct. 600, 148 L.Ed.2d 513 (2000); U.S. v. Garcia-Sanchez, 238 F.3d 1200, 1201 (9th Cir.2001); U.S. v. Sanchez, 269 F.3d 1250, 1269 (11th Cir.2001), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 1327, 152 L.Ed.2d 234 (2002). 6 However, in cases such as U.S. v. Flowal, 234 F.3d 932 (6th Cir.2000), U.S. v. Ramirez, 242 F.3d 348 (6th Cir.2001), and U.S. v. Strayhorn, 250 F.3d 462 (6th Cir.2001), all involving convictions under 21 U.S.C. § 841, we addressed the issue and extended Apprendi's protections to mandatory minimum sentences, thus rendering us a minority of one. U.S. v. Humphrey, 287 F.3d 422, 454 (6th Cir.2002) (Rosen, D.J., dissenting); U.S. v. Stafford, 258 F.3d 465, 479 n. 9 (6th Cir.2001) (quoting U.S. v. Hill, 252 F.3d 919, 921 (7th Cir.2001)). 21 In Flowal, the first case in which we applied Apprendi to mandatory minimum sentences, the judge found the defendant guilty and found the amount of drugs (five kilograms of cocaine) by a preponderance of the evidence. The judge sentenced Flowal to life — the minimum penalty for defendants with prior drug convictions — under § 841(b)(1)(A). In reversing Flowal, we tweaked the Apprendi holding, stating a fact that increases the applicable statutory range for a particular crime must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt to the trier of fact. Flowal, 234 F.3d at 936 n. 2 (emphasis added). In doing so, we attempted to reconcile Flowal with Apprendi: 22 The government is also correct in noting that a repeat offender who possesses 4.997 kilograms of cocaine can receive life imprisonment under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B). However, such a penalty is not mandatory under the latter provision. This difference is significant in this case because the trial judge's determination of the weight of the drugs took away any discretion in terms of imposing a shorter sentence. It is not a foregone conclusion that the trial judge would have sentenced Flowal to life without the possibility of release if a jury had determined the drugs weighed 4.997 kilograms. In fact, if the jury had determined that the drugs weighed less than 500 grams, a life sentence would not have even been an option under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C). The judge's determination effectively limited the range of applicable penalties and deprived Flowal of the opportunity to receive less than life imprisonment without the possibility of release. 23 Id. at 937. Accordingly, in Flowal, we created a circuit split and broadened Apprendi to apply to determinations affecting the judge's discretion to impose a lesser sentence. In this Circuit, any such determination had to be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 938. 24 However, in June, the Supreme Court decided Harris v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 2406, 153 L.Ed.2d 524 (2002), and resolved the circuit split. In Harris, the defendant was charged with carrying a firearm while committing the crime of drug trafficking and was sentenced under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(ii), which provides for a minimum sentence of seven years if the firearm was brandished. Otherwise, the penalty under § 924(c) is five years. Harris challenged his sentence under Apprendi, claiming that any factor increasing the mandatory minimum sentence to which a defendant is subject must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The Harris Court held that anything increasing the statutory minimum is a sentencing factor, not an element, and therefore, allowing the judge to determine whether the firearm was brandished by a preponderance of the evidence does not violate the defendant's constitutional rights. Harris, 122 S.Ct. at 2416. Moreover, such a practice does not violate Apprendi, because Apprendi was limited to increases in maximum sentences. Id. at 2417. 25 The result in Harris is borne from the holding in McMillan. In McMillan, the Supreme Court upheld the State of Pennsylvania's Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Act, under which anyone convicted of certain enumerated felonies is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment if the sentencing judge finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the person `visibly possessed a firearm' during the commission of the offense. McMillan, 477 U.S. at 81, 106 S.Ct. 2411. The majority in Apprendi expressly declined to overrule McMillan, but instead limited McMillan's holding to cases that do not involve the imposition of a sentence more severe than the statutory maximum for the offense established by the jury's verdict — a limitation identified in the McMillan opinion itself. Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 487 n. 13, 120 S.Ct. 2348. In the plurality portion of the opinion, Harris reinforced McMillan's reasoning that factors increasing the mandatory minimum sentence are not elements, but mere sentencing factors not entitled to the same constitutional protections: 26 That reasoning still controls. If the facts judges consider when exercising their discretion within the statutory range are not elements, they do not become as much merely because legislatures require the judge to impose a minimum sentence when those facts are found-a sentence the judge could have imposed absent the finding. It does not matter, for the purposes of the constitutional analysis, that in statutes like the Pennsylvania Act the State provides that a fact shall give rise both to a special stigma and to a special punishment. McMillan, supra, at 103 (Stevens, J., dissenting).... These facts, though stigmatizing and punitive, have been the traditional domain of judges; they have not been alleged in the indictment or proved beyond a reasonable doubt. There is no reason to believe that those who framed the Fifth and Sixth Amendments would have thought of them as the elements of the crime. 27 Harris, 122 S.Ct. at 2415-16 (plurality). Hence, McMillan and Apprendi have been reconciled and there is no longer question that McMillan is still good law. 28 Although Harris involved a defendant sentenced under 18 U.S.C. § 924, there is no logical reason why its rule does not likewise govern convictions under 21 U.S.C. § 841. Accordingly, Flowal, Ramirez, Strayhorn 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 and this opinion. See, e.g., U.S. v. Humphrey, 287 F.3d 422 (6th Cir.2002); Gibson v. U.S., 271 F.3d 247 (6th Cir.2001); U.S. v. Garcia, 268 F.3d 407 (6th Cir.2001).