William Joseph Harris v. United States (536 U.S. 545)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 24, 2002 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 536 U.S. 545 · 122 S. Ct. 2406
- Decided
- June 24, 2002
- Term
- October Term 2001
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Kennedy announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, and IV, and an opinion with respect to Part III, in which The Chief Justice, Justice O’Connor, and Justice Scalia join. Once more we consider the distinction the law has drawn between the elements of a crime and factors that influence a criminal sentence, ' Legislatures define crimes in terms of the facts that are their essential elements, and constitutional guarantees attach to these facts. In federal prosecutions, “[n]o person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury” alleging all the elements of the crime. U. S. Const., Amdt. 5; see Hamling v. United States, 418 U. S. 87, 117 (1974). “In all criminal prosecutions,” state and federal, “the accused shall enjoy the right to ... trial... by an impartial jury,” U. S. Const., Amdt. 6; see Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U. S. 145, 149 (1968), at which the government must prove each element beyond a reasonable doubt, see In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358, 364 (1970). Yet not all facts affecting the defendant’s punishment are elements. After the accused is convicted, the judge may impose a sentence within a range provided by statute, basing it on various facts relating to the defendant and the manner in which the offense was committed. Though…
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