Opinion ID: 28456
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Weapons Possession

Text: 22 Randle also argues that Apprendi applies to the district court's failure to submit the two-level sentencing enhancement for weapons possession to the jury. Section 2D1.1(b)(1) of the guidelines mandates a two-level enhancement for possession of a firearm unless it is clearly improbable that the weapon was connected with the offense. U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, cmt. 3 (2000). Here, little evidence connected Randle's shotgun to drug activity. While acknowledging that it was a close call, the district judge found by a preponderance of the evidence that a connection between Randle's shotgun and his drug crimes was not clearly improbable. 23 The enhancement poses no Apprendi problem, however. As the Eleventh Circuit explained, 24 Apprendi does not apply to judge-made determinations pursuant to the Sentencing Guidelines.... A factual finding under the Guidelines determines the sentence within the statutory range rather than outside it. Because Apprendi only addresses facts that increase the penalty for a crime beyond the statutory maximum, it does not apply to those findings that merely cause the guideline range to shift within the statutory range. 25 United States v. Sanchez, 269 F.3d 1250, 1262 (11th Cir.2001)(en banc). Stated differently, the application of an enhancement called for by the guidelines cannot be used to impose any sentence beyond the statutory maximum prescribed by an offense. United States v. Doggett, 230 F.3d 160, 166 (5th Cir.2000). 26 If the statutory maximum had been 20 years, the weapon-possession enhancement could not have increased the term of imprisonment. But, as the discussion in the previous section indicates, the evidence of drug quantity presented at trial was so compelling that Randle undoubtedly would have been subject to an enhanced sentence, and a finding of only 5 grams would have subjected Randle to a statutory maximum of 40 years. Under these circumstances, the weapon-possession enhancement places the sentencing guidelines' range well within the statutory maximum.