Woods v. State

Marlena Woods has served her time. She was released shortly before this court’s en banc argument, and there is nothing we can do now to shorten her sentence. Because “[fit is a fundamental maxim of judicial restraint that ‘courts should not decide constitutional issues unnecessarily,’ ” Johnson v. Feder, 485 So.2d 409, 412 (Fla. 1986) (quoting In re Forfeiture of One Cessna 337H Aircraft, 475 So.2d 1269, 1270-71 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985)), we should dismiss this appeal.

Woods challenged only her sentence— not her conviction. Generally, when a defendant challenges a sentence already completed, we…