Opinion ID: 2639277
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Post-Apprendi Analysis

Text: Our search for an answer to the above question leads us to U.S. v. Tighe, 266 F.3d 1187 (9th Cir. 2001). Tighe pled guilty to bank robbery, felon in possession of a firearm, and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. He was informed for the first time at the plea hearing that his criminal history may trigger the provisions of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), see 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) (2000). ACCA mandates a minimum sentence of 15 years for anyone convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm who has three previous convictions for a violent felony or a serious drug offense. The trial court concluded that Tighe had at least three prior convictions for violent felonies, among them a juvenile adjudication, and imposed a 15-year sentence for the firearm conviction. Tighe appealed, arguing in part that the provision for a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence rendered the ACCA unconstitutional on its face under Apprendi. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals quickly disposed of the argument, citing Apprendi and Almendarez-Torres and concluded: Under the current state of the law, the Constitution does not require prior convictions that increase a statutory penalty to be charged in the indictment and proved before a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. [Citations omitted.] Accordingly, we affirm the district court's holding that ACCA is constitutional on its face. 266 F.3d at 1191. The as-applied challenge was another matter. The majority began its analysis with the admission that Tighe's argument had little surface appeal. At first blush, it may appear that Tighe's 1998 juvenile adjudication, which Congress has characterized as a `prior conviction' for the purposes of ACCA, falls precisely within Apprendi's exception for `the fact of a prior conviction,' thus foreclosing Tighe's argument that the use of that adjudication at sentencing to increase his maximum penalty violated Apprendi. Such an analysis, however, ignores the significant constitutional differences between adult convictions and juvenile adjudications. [Citations omitted.] Neither Apprendi, nor Almendarez-Torres  the case upon which Apprendi relied to create the `prior conviction' exception to its general rulespecifically addressed the unique issues that distinguish juvenile adjudications from adult convictions, such as the lack of a right to a jury trial in most juvenile adjudications. 266 F.3d at 1192-93. After a review of Almendarez-Torres Jones, and Apprendi, the Tighe majority concluded: [T]he `prior conviction' exception to Apprendi's general rule must be limited to prior convictions that were themselves obtained through proceedings that included the right to a jury trial and proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Juvenile adjudications that do not afford the right to a jury trial and a beyond-a-reasonable doubt burden of proof, therefore, do not fall within Apprendi's `prior conviction' exception. 266 F.3d at 1194. The Tighe dissent pointed out that the Ninth Circuit had previously declared the 15-year mandatory minimum sentence component of the ACCA to be a penalty enhancement. Thus, the dissent concluded that the three prior convictions were not elements of the crime and need not be included in the indictment or proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. 266 F.3d at 1198. The dissent also pointed out that in a pre- Apprendi case, United States v. Williams, 891 F.2d 212 (9th Cir. 1989), cert. denied 494 U.S. 1037 (1990), the Ninth Circuit held that where a juvenile received all the process constitutionally due at the delinquency proceeding stage, the later use of the juvenile adjudication for a sentence enhancement was constitutionally sound. 266 F.3d at 1198-99. More relevant to our discussion, however, is the dissent's criticism of the majority's interpretation of Jones. The dissent repeated an essential passage from Jones: `One basis for that constitutional distinctiveness [of prior convictions] is not hard to see: unlike virtually any other consideration used to enlarge the possible penalty for an offense ... a prior conviction must itself have been established through procedures satisfying the fair notice, reasonable doubt and jury trial guarantees.' 266 F.3d at 1200 (quoting Jones, 526 U.S. at 249.). The dissent then remarked: I do not believe the language plucked from Jones provides sufficient authority to overrule (albeit implicitly) this court's decision in Williams, nor do I think the majority's attempt to distinguish Williams is valid. In my view, the language in Jones stands for the basic proposition that Congress has the constitutional power to treat prior convictions as sentencing factors subject to a lesser standard of proof because the defendant presumably received all the process that was due when he was convicted of the predicate crime. For adults, this would indeed include the right to a jury trial. For juveniles, it does not. Extending Jones' logic to juvenile adjudications, when a juvenile receives all the process constitutionally due at the juvenile stage, there is no constitutional problem (on which Apprendi focused) in using that adjudication to support a later sentencing enhancement. 266 F.3d at 1200.