Opinion: 536 U.S. 545 (2002)

HOLDING: Any fact that increases the mandatory minimum sentence for a crime but does not increase the maximum sentence available does not require a decision by a jury and it does not violate a defendant’s constitutional rights when that fact is found by the judge instead of the jury.  This holding was later overruled in 2013 by Alleyne v. United States.

Petitioner William Joseph Harris sold illegal narcotics out of his pawnshop with an unconcealed semiautomatic pistol at his side.  He was later arrested for violating federal drug and firearms laws, including 18 U.S.C. § 924 (c)(1)(A).  Subsection (ii) of § 924 (c)(1)(A) provided that any person who brandishes a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime “shall” be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years.  Brandishing a firearm means displaying that firearm to intimidate someone.  The indictment made no reference to brandishing or subsection (ii) because the Government assumed that brandishing was a sentencing factor to be considered by the judge after trial, not by the jury. 

After his conviction, the presentence report suggested that the 7-year minimum sentence applied because Harris brandished a firearm.  Harris objected, arguing that, as a matter of statutory interpretation, brandishing was an element of an offense that needed to be included in the indictment and submitted to the jury.  The District Court overruled this objection, found by a preponderance of the evidence that Harris had brandished the firearm, and sentenced him to seven years in prison.  The Fourth Circuit affirmed.

The Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts, holding that a fact giving rise to a mandatory minimum sentence within the available statutory sentencing range does not violate the defendant’s constitutional rights when it is neither included in the indictment nor found as a fact by a jury.  The Supreme Court distinguished this holding from a prior decision involving a finding of fact that increased the otherwise-applicable statutory maximum.  Here, the judge could have imposed the sentence absent the factual finding that the gun was brandished because a seven-year sentence was within the available sentencing range.  It was consistent with how sentencing factors operate for the statute’s provisions to result in an incremental increase in the defendant's sentence. 

Harris v. United States was later overruled by Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99 (2013).