WOODS v. STATE (2022)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

Alfred WOODS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.

No. 1D21-0649

Decided: January 19, 2022

Jessica J. Yeary, Public Defender, and Justin Foster Karpf, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Petitioner. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Virginia Chester Harris and Trisha Meggs Pate, Assistant Attorneys General, Tallahassee, for Respondent.

In 1989, Alfred Woods—then a minor—pled guilty to murder in the first degree and entered a plea agreement specifying a sentence of life in prison with no eligibility for parole for twenty-five years, as section 775.082(1), Florida Statutes, provided at the time. Though the 1989 judgment and sentence specify a life term and are silent on parole eligibility, no one contests that Woods's original judgment and sentence allowed for parole eligibility after twenty-five years of incarceration. Because his original sentence, which provides for possible parole after twenty-five years of incarceration, is not violative of Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010), Woods is not entitled to resentencing. State v. Michel, 257 So. 3d 3, 8 (Fla. 2018) (holding that the defendant's life sentence with the possibility of parole after twenty-five years did not violate his constitutional rights). On this basis, the relief sought is denied.

Per Curiam.

Roberts, Makar, and Bilbrey, JJ., concur.

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