McMillan v. Pennsylvania
United States Supreme Court
477 U.S. 79 (1986)
A state statute required judges to impose a mandatory minimum five-year sentence for certain enumerated felonies whenever the judge found, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant visibly possessed a firearm during the offense; the statute did not authorize any sentence longer than what the underlying crime already permitted, and the legislature specified that visible possession was not an element of the crime itself. McMillan (defendant) was convicted of one of the enumerated felonies, but the sentencing judges found the statute unconstitutional and imposed a shorter term than the statute required. The state supreme court reversed and upheld the statute, and the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Whether the Due Process Clause is violated by a state statute that subjects a convicted defendant to a mandatory minimum sentence when the sentencing judge finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a particular fact existed at the time of the crime.