Cite as: 523 U. S. 224 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
736, 776-784, 921 P. 2d 514, 533-538 (1996) (upholding state recidivism law against federal constitutional challenge), with State v. Furth, 5 Wash. 2d 1, 11-19, 104 P. 2d 925, 930-933 (1940). And it nowhere (to our knowledge) rested upon a federal constitutional guarantee. See, e. g., Massey v. United States, supra, at 297 (applying federal law, noting jury determination of prior offense applied "unless the statute designates a different mode of procedure").
Petitioner also argues, in essence, that this Court should simply adopt a rule that any significant increase in a statutory maximum sentence would trigger a constitutional "elements" requirement. We have explained why we believe the Constitution, as interpreted in McMillan and earlier cases, does not impose that requirement. We add that such a rule would seem anomalous in light of existing case law that permits a judge, rather than a jury, to determine the existence of factors that can make a defendant eligible for the death penalty, a punishment far more severe than that faced by petitioner here. See Walton v. Arizona, 497 U. S. 639, 647 (1990) (rejecting capital defendant's argument that every finding of fact underlying death sentence must be made by a jury); Hildwin v. Florida, 490 U. S. 638, 640-641 (1989) (per curiam) ( judge may impose death penalty based on his finding of aggravating factor because such factor is not element of offense to be determined by jury); Spaziano v. Florida, 468 U. S. 447, 465 (1984) (same). And we would also find it difficult to reconcile any such rule with our precedent holding that the sentencing-related circumstances of recidivism are not part of the definition of the offense for double jeopardy purposes. Graham, 224 U. S., at 623-624.
For these reasons, we reject petitioner's constitutional claim that his recidivism must be treated as an element of his offense.
IV
We mention one final point. Petitioner makes no separate, subsidiary, standard of proof claims with respect to his
247
Page: Index Previous 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007