Cynthia Kaye Wood v. State, 01-16-00179-CR

Background

Cynthia Kaye Wood pleaded guilty without an agreed recommendation to attempted capital murder for placing her hand over her four‑month‑old son’s nose/mouth on two occasions; she pleaded "true" to a deadly‑weapon allegation (her hand).
After a presentence investigation (PSI) and a sentencing hearing at which the PSI and medical testimony were admitted, the trial court found Wood guilty and sentenced her to life imprisonment.
Wood appealed, raising five points: (1–2) sufficiency of evidence to support attempted capital murder; (3) sentence legality; (4) ineffective assistance of counsel; and (5) error in proceeding to sentencing without a complete psychological evaluation.
The plea form included a judicial confession recounting the act but did not expressly allege the statutory aggravating circumstance (victim under ten years of age) necessary to support a capital‑murder elevation.
The appellate court concluded the sentencing‑phase evidence (PSI and medical testimony) supplied the missing element for Article 1.15 purposes, but the indictment itself failed to allege the aggravating circumstance required to charge capital murder.
Because the indictment charged attempted murder (a second‑degree felony) rather than attempted capital murder, the court held the life sentence was illegal and remanded for resentencing on attempted murder.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence to support guilty plea to attempted capital murder	State: Judicial confession plus sentencing evidence (PSI, medical testimony) establish all elements, including victim’s age	Wood: Judicial confession omitted aggravating element; sentencing evidence cannot be used unless court accepted it as basis for conviction	Overruled: Sentencing‑phase evidence supplemented the confession; court did not limit acceptance to pre‑sentencing evidence—conviction supported by record evidence
Whether sentencing court accepted sentencing evidence as basis for conviction	State: Article 1.15 requires court accept evidence in record but not to specify which evidence; court’s finding after sentencing shows acceptance	Wood: Trial court’s earlier statement shows it relied only on plea‑hearing papers, not later sentencing evidence	Held for State: Court may accept evidence adduced at sentencing; trial court deferred finding until after PSI and then found guilt
Legality of life sentence given indictment	Wood: Indictment did not allege aggravating circumstance; at most charged attempted murder (2nd‑degree), so life term illegal	State: Argued it charged attempted capital murder (but indictment tracked murder/attempt language)	Held for Wood: Indictment failed to allege statutory aggravator; State held to offense charged; life sentence unauthorized—remand for punishment on attempted murder
Ineffective assistance / sentencing without complete psychological evaluation	Wood: Raised these, arguing trial counsel ineffective and sentencing premature	State: Not reached in opinion due to disposition on sentencing illegality	Not reached: Court did not address points 4 and 5 in light of remand for resentencing

Key Cases Cited

Menefee v. State, 287 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. Crim. App. 2009) (judicial confession or stipulation can satisfy Article 1.15 if it embraces all elements)
Stewart v. State, 12 S.W.3d 146 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2000) (Article 1.15 does not distinguish guilt/innocence and punishment phases for record evidence)
Riney v. State, 28 S.W.3d 561 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000) (indictment’s role to give notice and protect against arbitrary charges)
Thomason v. State, 892 S.W.2d 8 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994) (when indictment facially charges complete offense, State is held to that offense)
Rodriguez v. State, 18 S.W.3d 228 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000) (conviction must be authorized by charging instrument)
Mizell v. State, 119 S.W.3d 804 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003) (courts may correct illegal sentences at any time)
Sierra v. State, 501 S.W.3d 179 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2016) (sentence unauthorized where indictment charged lesser class felony than punished)
Ex parte Rich, 194 S.W.3d 508 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006) (remedy for illegal sentence following non‑negotiated guilty plea is remand for proper assessment of punishment)
Crawford v. State, 632 S.W.2d 800 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1982) (conviction for elevated offense reversed where indictment failed to allege necessary enhancement)