CA6 Returns to the Land Before Apprendi

The Sixth Circuit ruled today that a jury, and not the judge, must decide if death results from a federal arson offense, triggering a harsher statutory sentence. Logan v. United States, No. 04-5325. While the petitioner in this case failed to raise the question below, pre-Apprendi cases like Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227 (1999), which held that statutory construction requires a jury determination that death resulted from a carjacking, appear to be good law, in spite of Booker/Fanfan.

The sentencing elements are dead! Long live the sentencing elements!