414
Opinion of Stevens, J.
and instead applied only a "watered-down" version of due process, see Benton, 395 U. S., at 796. Moreover, in Williams, the State's discretionary sentencing scheme was entirely dissimilar to the federal Sentencing Guidelines, which require that "relevant conduct" be punished as if it had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The Court is therefore free to accept or reject the majority's reasoning in Williams.
The precise issue resolved in Williams is also somewhat different from that presented in today's case. In Williams, the petitioner committed two offenses, kidnaping and murder, arising out of the same incident. Though petitioner was convicted of capital murder, the judge imposed a sentence of life imprisonment. There is no reason to believe that the judge considered the kidnaping offense as relevant conduct in sentencing petitioner for the murder. Williams was then prosecuted for kidnaping. He did not raise a double jeopardy objection to the kidnaping prosecution—an objection that would have been comparable to petitioner's claim in this case regarding his cocaine prosecution. After Williams pleaded guilty to the kidnaping, the court considered the circumstances of the crime, including the murder, and imposed a death sentence. This Court affirmed. I agree with Justice Douglas' dissent that "petitioner was in substance tried for murder twice in violation of the guarantee against double jeopardy." 358 U. S., at 587. In any event, I surely would not apply the Williams Court's dubious reasoning to a federal sentence imposed under the Guidelines.3
3 I recognize that the Court in Williams stated that "the court's consideration of the murder as a circumstance involved in the kidnapping crime cannot be said to have resulted in punishing petitioner a second time for the same offense." 358 U. S., at 586. As I note in the text, I disagree with this statement. But even if it were correct, it does not dispose of petitioner's claim that he is being prosecuted for the cocaine offense a second time. The statement in Williams is directed only at the use of a prior conviction in a subsequent sentencing proceeding; it does not address whether the second prosecution is barred by the fact that the defendant has already been punished for the offense to be prosecuted.
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