that the finding that the murder was committed during the course of a sexual battery or kidnapping 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 v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 489-90, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Although the Supreme Court has since suggested that the continued validity of Almendarez-Torres may be in question, 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 prior conviction exception of almendareztorres holding that almendareztorres was not overruled by apprendi recognizing exception recognizing exception carved out by almendareztorres recognizing the narrow exception created by almendareztorres but noting that it was not directly at issue in alleyne