Opinion ID: 779583
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Seventh Assignment of Error

Text: 63 In his final assignment of error, Lawrence argues that the precise amount of drugs attributable to him should have been determined by the jury, and that the district court's determination, 4 by a preponderance of evidence, violated his rights under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Because Lawrence failed to object to this finding in the district court, we review his challenge for plain error. United States v. Page, 232 F.3d 536, 543 (6th Cir.2000). In Apprendi, the Supreme Court held: 64 Other 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. With that exception, we endorse the statement of the rule ... 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. 65 530 U.S. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348 (quoting Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227, 252-53, 119 S.Ct. 1215, 143 L.Ed.2d 311 (Stevens, J., concurring)) (citing Jones, 526 U.S. at 253, 119 S.Ct. 1215 (Scalia, J., concurring)). 66 Here, a jury found Lawrence guilty of violating 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), but because the jury did not determine the amount, under Apprendi Lawrence had to be sentenced at or below the twenty-year maximum prescribed in § 841(b)(1)(C). See Page, 232 F.3d at 543. This requirement was satisfied, since Lawrence received a sentence of 188 months' imprisonment. 67 Nonetheless, Lawrence argues that an Apprendi violation occurred because the court's determination established his minimum sentence under the Guidelines at 188 months. In so arguing, he proposes (1) that even if the increase of his minimum from 0 months to 188 months was only a product of the Guidelines, its factual basis should still have been established beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury, and (2) that any increase of a defendant's minimum sentence must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, even if the defendant was in fact sentenced below the proper statutory maximum. We reject both of these propositions. 68 Regarding the former, Apprendi by its terms applies only where the finding increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum, 530 U.S. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348 (emphasis added), and we have squarely held that Apprendi does not apply to the Guidelines. See United States v. Garcia, 252 F.3d 838, 843 (6th Cir.2001) ( Apprendi does not purport to apply to penalties in excess of any particular range or based on any particular offense level under the Sentencing Guidelines.). Accord United States v. Fields, 251 F.3d 1041, 1043-44 (D.C.Cir.2001) ( Apprendi does not apply to enhancements under the Sentencing Guidelines when the resulting sentence remains within the statutory maximum.); United States v. Meshack, 225 F.3d 556, 576 (5th Cir.2000); Talbott v. Indiana, 226 F.3d 866, 869-70 (7th Cir.2000). We consequently find this proposition meritless. 69 Whether Apprendi applies at all in cases where the defendant was sentenced below the statutory maximum, is governed by Harris v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 2406, 153 L.Ed.2d 524 (2002). In Harris, four members of the Court explicitly said that facts affecting only a statutory minimum sentence need not be charged in the indictment or found by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt, and such facts may instead be found by the judge. 122 S.Ct. at 2418-19 (plurality opinion). A fifth justice, while not joining in that plurality opinion, opined that in his view, the Sixth Amendment does not even require the result the Court reached in Apprendi, much less that facts affecting the statutory minimum sentence be included in the indictment and found beyond a reasonable doubt. 122 S.Ct. at 2420-21 (Breyer, J., concurring in part and concurring in the judgment). Finally, the majority of the Court reaffirmed McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 2411, 91 L.Ed.2d 67 (1986), which upheld the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania statute that mandated a minimum sentence of five years for certain felonies where the judge found, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant visibly possessed a firearm during the crime. 70 Harris, then, held that Apprendi is about statutory maximums, and it established that Apprendi does not apply to changes in the statutory minimum. Prior to Harris, we had held to the contrary that Apprendi did apply to statutory minimums. See, e.g., United States v. Humphrey, 287 F.3d 422, 447 (6th Cir.2002), United States v. Ramirez, 242 F.3d 348, 351 (6th Cir.2001), United States v. Strayhorn, 250 F.3d 462, 469-70 (6th Cir.2001); United States v. Rebmann, 226 F.3d 521, 524 (6th Cir.2000); United States v. Flowal, 234 F.3d 932, 936 (6th Cir.2000). But Harris has clearly overruled our previous conclusion, and hence has overruled the portions of these and other prior cases that embody that conclusion. We consequently find that Lawrence's Apprendi challenge is meritless.