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The question posed by this appeal is whether, under a statute forbidding the carrying and use of guns in connection with a federal crime, the nature of the weapon is to be found by the judge as a sentencing matter or by the jury as an element of the crime

"The question posed by this appeal is whether, under a statute forbidding the carrying and use of guns in connection with a federal crime, the nature of the weapon is to be found by the judge as a sentencing matter or by the jury as an element of the crime." So begins a decision that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued today.

The very next sentence of the opinion explains, "Most circuits have said the former; believing ourselves largely constrained by a Supreme Court decision interpreting a prior version of the statute, we reach the opposite result, albeit with some misgivings."

Full post as published by How Appealing on September 23, 2008 (boomark / email).