Whether a sentencing court violates the Sixth Amendment's Jury Clause when the sentencing court—rather than the jury—finds that the defendant committed the offense within three years of release from a state prison and on that basis imposes the enhanced sentence?

QUESTION PRESENTED Florida enhances the sentences for serious offenses based on release status: if the defendant commits the offense within three years of release from a state prison (or similar facility), then the defendant is a “Prison Releasee Reoffender,” and the statutory maximum sentence becomes the statutory minimum sentence. Florida juries don’t decide whether the defendant committed the offense within three years of release from a state prison (or similar facility): judges do. Florida courts say this falls under the prior-record exception to Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000). There is a split of authority on whether release status at the time of the offense is an element that must be found by the jury under the Sixth Amendment. The question presented is: Whether a sentencing court violates the Sixth Amendment’s Jury Clause when the sentencing court—rather than the jury—finds that the defendant committed the offense within three years of release from a state prison and on that basis imposes the enhanced sentence? i