Judge or Jury: Who Decides Facts Leading to Mandatory Minimums?

Paul Shechtman, a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder and an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, discusses 'Alleyne v. United States,' which the U.S. Supreme Court will hear in January, and the widely criticized decision that may be overruled after that hearing, 'Harris v. United States,' which held that facts that trigger the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence can be found by the judge (not the jury) to a preponderance of the evidence (not beyond a reasonable doubt).

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