Apprendi v. New Jersey

Facts

At 2:04 a.m. on December 22, 1994, Charles Apprendi fired several .22-caliber bullets into the home of an African-American family that had recently moved into a previously all-white neighborhood in Vineland, New Jersey. He was arrested and admitted he was the shooter. Later he made a statement, which he retracted, that he did not want the family in the neighborhood because they were black. A grand jury indicted him on 23 counts. None referred to the hate crime statute, and none alleged a racially biased purpose. Under a plea agreement, Apprendi pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, which carry 5 to 10 years, and one count of third-degree possession of an antipersonnel bomb. The State reserved the right to ask for a longer sentence on count 18, the December 22 shooting, under New Jersey's hate crime law. That law allows an extended term of 10 to 20 years if a judge finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant acted with a purpose to intimidate because of race, color, gender, handicap, religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity. Apprendi reserved the right to challenge that enhancement as unconstitutional. After a hearing, the judge found by a preponderance of the evidence that the crime was motivated by racial bias, applied the enhancement, and sentenced Apprendi to 12 years on count 18.

Issues

1. Does the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment require that a factual determination authorizing an increase in the maximum prison sentence for an offense from 10 to 20 years be made by a jury on proof beyond a reasonable doubt?
2. Can a State avoid the jury and reasonable-doubt requirements by calling a finding that raises the maximum sentence a sentencing factor instead of an element of the offense?

Holding

New Jersey's procedure violated due process. A judge, using a preponderance of the evidence, found a biased purpose that raised the maximum sentence on count 18 from 10 years to 20. That finding had to be made by a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.