{{Short description|American convicted murderer, kidnapper and rapist}} {{For|the football player|Bobby Wood (disambiguation){{!}}Bobby Wood}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Bobby Wayne Woods | image_name = Bobby Wayne Woods.jpg | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1965|10|11|mf=y}}<ref name="TDCJ">{{cite web|url=http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/woodsbobby.htm |title=Offender Information - Woods, Bobby Wayne |date=June 27, 2008 |publisher=Texas Department of Criminal Justice |access-date=December 4, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831093204/http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/woodsbobby.htm |archive-date=August 31, 2009 }} </ref> | birth_place = Livingston, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|12|3|1965|10|11|mf=y}} | death_place = Huntsville Unit, Texas, U.S. | alias = | motive = | charge = | conviction = Capital murder<br>Attempted capital murder | conviction_penalty = Death | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children = | criminal_status = Executed by lethal injection }}
'''Bobby Wayne Woods''' (October 11, 1965 – December 3, 2009) was an American convicted murderer, kidnapper and rapist executed by the state of Texas for the murder and rape of 11-year-old Sarah Patterson in 1997. Woods also received a 40-year sentence for the abduction of Patterson's younger brother, whom he beat unconscious and left for dead but who survived. On May 28, 1998, Woods was sentenced to death for Patterson's murder and was executed on December 3, 2009, after a failed appeal based on Woods's low IQ.
==Biography== Bobby Wayne Woods dropped out of school in the seventh grade. He was barely able to read and write and he had to refer to a spelling list just to write simple notes to his family. He had IQ scores of 70 and 68 during elementary school. His IQ score right before his murder trial was 70, and another in 2002 returned 68. Woods also worked as a short-order cook and roofer.<ref name="NYT"/>
On April 30, 1997, Woods entered the home of his ex-girlfriend Schwana Patterson through the open window of her children's bedroom; Patterson had expelled Woods two months earlier.<ref name="Clark">{{cite web|title=Bobby Wayne Woods|url=http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/woods1186.htm|publisher=Clark County, Indiana Prosecuting Attorney|access-date=January 6, 2011}}</ref><ref name="not protecting"/> Woods then kidnapped Patterson's two children, 11-year-old Sarah Patterson and 9-year-old Cody Patterson, and raped Sarah.<ref name="TDCJ"/><ref name="not protecting">{{cite news|title=Woman found guilty of not protecting children |url=http://www.texnews.com/1998/texas/trial1015.html |access-date=January 6, 2011 |newspaper=Abilene Reporter-News |date=October 15, 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091206065754/http://www.texnews.com/1998/texas/trial1015.html |archive-date=December 6, 2009}}</ref> After driving to a cemetery, Woods beat and stomped Cody's head, strangled Cody, and abandoned the boy at the cemetery. Cody notified police, and Woods told police that Sarah was dead and led the police to her body.<ref name="Clark"/>
==Trial== Because the Woods case was heavily reported in Dallas-area media, Woods's trial was held in Llano, Texas. During his trial Woods admitted to kidnapping Patterson's children and beating Cody Patterson unconscious. A psychologist representing the defense but who did not evaluate Woods testified that Woods was intellectually disabled and no longer a threat to society. In response, a psychiatrist representing prosecution testified that Woods was not intellectually disabled and could commit future violent crimes.<ref name="sentenced"/> Woods, a resident of Granbury, Texas, was sentenced to death on May 28, 1998.<ref name="sentenced">{{cite news|title=Bobby Wayne Woods sentenced to death |url=http://www.texnews.com/1998/texas/woods0529.html |access-date=January 6, 2011 |newspaper=Abilene Reporter-News |date=May 29, 1998 |agency=Associated Press |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091205091416/http://www.texnews.com/1998/texas/woods0529.html |archive-date=December 5, 2009}}</ref>
Patterson was also tried on charges of child neglect and was found guilty on October 14, 1998.<ref name="not protecting"/> She was sentenced to 23 years in prison.<ref>{{cite news|title=Daughter's death gives mom guilt|url=http://lubbockonline.com/stories/103198/LD0607.shtml|access-date=January 6, 2011|newspaper=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|date=October 31, 1998|agency=Associated Press}}</ref>
== Execution == Woods was scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. on October 23, 2008.<ref>{{cite press release |publisher=Texas Attorney General |title=Media Advisory: Bobby Woods Scheduled For Execution |url=http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=2696 |date=2008-10-16 |access-date=2008-10-22 |archive-date=2011-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527163508/https://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=2696 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Graczyk |work=Houston Chronicle |title=Texas man convicted of killing 11-year-old to die |url=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6072591.html |date=2008-10-22}}{{dead link|date=February 2016}}</ref> However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals delayed the execution after lawyers raised issue that Woods's IQ would make him ineligible for the death penalty due to the United States Supreme Court case ''Atkins v. Virginia''.<ref>{{cite news|first=Debra |last=Dennis |work=Dallas Morning News |title=Court halts execution of Bobby Wayne Woods |url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/102308dnmetwoods.37e9958.html |date=October 23, 2008 |access-date=January 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026070406/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/102308dnmetwoods.37e9958.html |archive-date=October 26, 2008 }}</ref> That court ruled 8–1 on October 7, 2009, that there was insufficient evidence that Woods was retarded.<ref>{{cite news|title=Condemned N. Texas inmate loses retardation appeal|url=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6656511.html|access-date=January 6, 2011|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|date=October 7, 2009|agency=Associated Press}}{{dead link|date=February 2016}}</ref> The Supreme Court of the United States denied Woods's appeal hours before Woods's final execution day.<ref name="NYT"/>
Woods was executed at 6:48 p.m. local time on December 3, 2009, in the Huntsville Unit state prison.<ref name="NYT">{{cite web | last=McKinley|first=James C. Jr.| work=New York Times | title=Killer With Low IQ Is Executed in Texas | url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/us/04execute.html|date=December 4, 2009|access-date=August 13, 2020}}</ref> He was the 50th murderer executed in the U.S. in 2009 and 1,186th since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled capital punishment constitutional in the 1976 case ''Gregg v. Georgia''. In Texas, Woods was the 24th murderer executed in 2009 and 447th executed since 1976.<ref name="Clark"/>
He is buried at Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery.
==See also== * Capital punishment in Texas * Capital punishment in the United States * List of people executed in Texas, 2000–2009 * List of people executed in the United States in 2009
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} ! colspan="3" | Executions carried out in Texas {{s-bef|before=Robert Thompson|before2=<div style="font-weight: normal">November 19, 2009</div>}} {{s-ttl|title=Bobby Wayne Woods|years=December 3, 2009}} {{s-aft|after=Kenneth Mosley|after2=<div style="font-weight: normal">January 7, 2010</div>}} |- ! colspan="3" | Executions carried out in the United States {{s-bef|before=Cecil Johnson Jr. – Tennessee|before2=<div style="font-weight: normal">December 2, 2009</div>}} {{s-ttl|title=Bobby Wayne Woods – Texas|years=December 3, 2009}} {{s-aft|after=Kenneth Biros – Ohio|after2=<div style="font-weight: normal">December 8, 2009</div>}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Bobby Wayne}} Category:1965 births Category:2009 deaths Category:21st-century executions of American people Category:21st-century executions by Texas Category:American murderers of children Category:American people executed for murder Category:American people convicted of attempted murder Category:American people convicted of kidnapping Category:American rapists Category:Child sexual abuse in the United States Category:People convicted of murder by Texas Category:People executed by Texas by lethal injection Category:People from Livingston, Texas