128
Opinion of the Court
the jury ordinarily will be asked to assess the particular weapon at issue as well as the circumstances under which it was allegedly used. Furthermore, inasmuch as the prosecution's case under § 924(c) usually will involve presenting a certain weapon (or weapons) to the jury and arguing that the defendant used or carried that weapon during a crime of violence within the meaning of the statute, the evidence is unlikely to enable a defendant to respond both (1) "I did not use or carry any firearm," and (2) "even if I did, it was a pistol, not a machinegun." Hence, a rule of law that makes it difficult to make both claims at the same time to the same decisionmaker (the jury) will not often prejudice a defend-ant's case.
At the same time, a contrary rule—one that leaves the machinegun matter to the sentencing judge—might unnecessarily produce a conflict between the judge and the jury. That is because, under our case law interpreting the statute here at issue, a jury may well have to decide which of several weapons the defendant actively used, rather than passively possessed. See Bailey, 516 U. S., at 143. And, in such a case, the sentencing judge will not necessarily know which "firearm" supports the jury's determination. Under these circumstances, a judge's later, sentencing-related decision that the defendant used the machinegun, rather than, say, the pistol, might conflict with the jury's belief that he actively used the pistol, which factual belief underlay its firearm "use" conviction. Cf. Alerta, supra, at 1234-1235 (in the absence of a specific jury finding regarding the type of weapon that defendant used, it was possible that the jury did not find "use" of a machinegun even though the judge imposed the 30-year mandatory statutory sentence). There is no reason to think that Congress would have wanted a judge's views to prevail in a case of so direct a factual conflict, particularly when the sentencing judge applies a lower standard of proof and when 25 additional years in prison are at stake.
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