and afforded each great weight. We acknowledge that the trial court’s finding that the murder was committed during the course of a sexual battery was not erroneous. The United States Supreme Court indicated in Apprendi and Ring that there was one narrow exception to the Sixth Amendment requirement that a jury must find any fact that increases the maximum sentence: the fact of a prior conviction, as established in Almendarez-Torres. Ring, 536 U.S. at 597 n.4, 122 S.Ct. 2428; Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 489-90, 120 S.Ct. 2348. Although the Supreme Court has since suggested that the continued validity of Almendarez-Torres may be questionable, it has not directly revisited the exception created in that case. See Alleyne v. United States, — U.S. —, 133 S.Ct. 2151, 2160 n.1, 186 L.Ed.2d 314 (2013) (<HOLDING>); Ring, 536 U.S. at 597 n.4, 122 S.Ct. 2428
recognizing the narrow exception created by almendareztorres but noting that it was not directly at issue in alleyne holding that almendareztorres was not overruled by apprendi recognizing exception carved out by almendareztorres recognizing exception recognizing the prior conviction exception of almendareztorres