Opinion ID: 772819
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Harper's Apprendi Challenge

Text: 29 Harper's counsel asserted two additional issues at oral argument: first, that Harper's sentence is unconstitutional pursuant to Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), because the amount of drugs to which Harper stipulated in the factual basis supporting his guilty plea was not established by the government beyond a reasonable doubt; and second, that the government must prove Harper's conduct establishing the obstruction of justice adjustment beyond a reasonable doubt before the district court may enhance Harper's sentence. 30 In this case, Harper entered into a valid plea agreement, pursuant to Fed. R. Crim P. 11, with the government. He stipulated in the factual basis accompanying his plea that he was responsible for 1108 pounds, or approximately 500 kilograms, of marijuana. He does not challenge this amount on appeal nor does he argue that the district court erred by receiving his guilty plea without a sufficient factual basis; instead, Harper argues that the district court should have made a factual finding that he was responsible for approximately 500 kilograms of marijuana beyond a reasonable doubt. 31 Harper misconstrues the import of Apprendi. Apprendi involved the question whether, pursuant to the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, a factual determination which gives rise to a penalty in excess of the prescribed statutory maximum must be made by a jury on the basis of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, or whether a judge may make the factual determination by a preponderance of the evidence. Apprendi pleaded guilty to three counts of a state indictment, two for second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and one for third-degree unlawful possession of an antipersonnel bomb. Apprendi, 120 S. Ct. at 2352. The second-degree offenses were punishable by a sentence of between five and ten years' imprisonment. A separate statute, New Jersey's hate crime statute, authorized the trial judge to extend a defendant's term of imprisonment for a second-degree offense to between ten and twenty years if the judge found, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant acted with a purpose to intimidate an individual or group of individuals because of, inter alia, that individual's race. Id. at 2351. In the plea agreement, the state reserved the right to seek an enhanced sentence on one of the second-degree offenses pursuant to the hate crime statute; Apprendi reserved the right to contest the constitutionality of that statute's enhanced sentencing procedure. 32 At an evidentiary hearing held upon motion by the state, the trial court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Apprendi had unlawfully possessed a firearm with a purpose to intimidate on the basis of race, in violation of the state's hate crime statute. Thus, instead of facing a maximum ten-year sentence on a count to which he pleaded guilty, Apprendi received a twelve-year sentence pursuant to the hate crime statute's sentencing enhancement. Apprendi challenged this sentence as violative of his Fourteenth Amendment due process right to have all elements of a charged offense tried to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. 33 The Supreme Court agreed with Apprendi and found the New Jersey hate crime statute's enhanced penalty provision unconstitutional under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Court concluded that the sentencing enhancement for hate crimes was an element of the offense, not a sentencing factor, and as such had to be established by more than a preponderance of the evidence. In striking down the sentencing enhancement, the Court held that [o]ther 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. Apprendi, 120 S. Ct. at 2362-63. 34 In this case, Harper stipulated that he was responsible for slightly more than 500 kilograms of marijuana and pleaded guilty, pursuant to that amount, to a count which carried a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years with a possible sentence of life imprisonment. The penalty provisions in 21 U.S.C. §841(b) provide for a range of penalties conditioned upon, inter alia, the amount of drugs for which the defendant is held accountable and the defendant's prior felony drug convictions. According to §841(b)(1)(B), a defendant who is held accountable for 100 kilograms or more of marijuana and has a prior felony drug conviction must be sentenced to at least 10 years and not more than life in prison. Because Harper has a prior felony drug conviction and he stipulated to responsibility for approximately 500 kilograms of marijuana, which amount he does not now dispute, he was subject to the mandatory minimum ten-year sentence 5 . Harper's sentence for a term of 168 months, or 14 years, is, therefore, not in excess of the statutory maximum 6 . 35 Harper's Apprendi argument clearly would have merit if the indictment failed to charge him with conspiracy to distribute a specific quantity of drugs; if he subsequently pleaded guilty without stipulating, either in a plea or in a factual basis, to the amount of drugs for which he assumed responsibility; and if the district court had determined at sentencing, by a preponderance of the evidence, the amount of drugs attributable to Harper which subjected him to an enhanced statutory sentence. Likewise, Harper's claim would have merit if he had been indicted for a measurable quantity of marijuana, convicted by a jury for conspiracy to distribute this unspecified quantity, and then sentenced by the district court under a preponderance of the evidence standard in excess of the default statutory maximum. In both instances, Harper's Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights would have been violated by the failure to give him proper notice of his crime and the failure to charge and prove all elements of the crime, either to judge or jury, beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Ramirez, 242 F.3d 348, 351 (6th Cir. Feb. 16, 2001) (holding that when quantity of drugs for 21 U.S.C. §841(a) conviction determines statutory mandatory minimum or maximum sentence under §841(b), jury should determine amount of drugs beyond a reasonable doubt); United States v. Flowal, 234 F.3d 932, 936 (6th Cir. 2000) (same). 36 Harper, however, stipulated to the amount of drugs for which he was heldresponsible, and the district court did not rely on any fact outside of the plea agreement to determine drug quantity at sentencing. Therefore, the principles articulated inApprendi are not implicated by the instant case, and Harper's argument must fail 7 . Cf. United States v. Munoz, 233 F.3d 410, 414 (6th Cir. 2000) (upholding defendant's sentence for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine despite fact that defendant only pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine but not methamphetamine because sentence did not exceed the statutory maximum for the portion of the indictment to which [defendant] validly pled guilty).