U.S. Supreme Court Decides Alleyne v. United States: Only Jury Can Find Facts that Trigger Mandatory Minimums
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: June 17, 2013 CONTACT: Monica Pratt Raffanel, (202) 822-6700 or monica@famm.org WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the U.S. Supreme Court shook up mandatory minimum sentencing, extending the protection of the Sixth Amendment’s right to trial by jury to all defendants facing enhanced mandatory minimum sentences. In Alleyne v. United States, a 5-4 majority held that any fact that triggers any mandatory minimum sentence is an “element” of the crime and must be proven to a jury by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Until today, a judge who found that certain facts had