D.A. Charles Woods was an arrogant, abrasive man both in and out of court. He also enjoyed the power that came along with his title. He first appeared on-screen in August 2009 while trying to prosecute Dr. Daniel Jonas who was accused of attempting to kill his lover, Chloe Lane. Despite not having airtight proof, Charles was convinced Daniel was guilty and vowed to see him rot in jail. However, Daniel's lawyer, Justin Kiriakis, soon thwarted the D.A.'s vision and eventually Daniel was freed, much to Charles' dismay.

Charles would have future run-ins with the Salem P.D. and local F.B.I. agents. He especially disliked the Brady family - Roman, Bo, and Hope - whom he often accused of being biased towards family members and friends. In fact, Charles had run-ins with nearly every official. Even the mayor, Abe Carver, had issues with him.

However, his biggest conflict was that with his son, Chad. Sometime in 2008, Charles had Chad shipped to a military boarding school to straighten him out after Chad was caught doing drugs. Charles also wanted to get Chad away from Mia McCormick, the girl he was dating, whom Charles considered trash. But what neither Charles nor Chad knew at the time that Mia was pregnant with his child.

Later, when Chad returned to Salem in June of 2009, he began perusing a relationship with Mia once again. Charles strongly objected and tried to force his son to stay away from Mia. Chad continued to go after Mia, but Charles remained on his son's case every step of the way. When Charles found out about the baby and all of the drama surrounding it, he warned Chad to stay away from Mia once and for all.

Chad would eventually listen to his father and, in the winter of 2010, he began to date Gabi Hernandez. He even invited her to Vancouver as Charles had gotten Chad, and three of his friends, tickets to the Winter Olympics. Mia, however, had became jealous of Chad's relationship with Gabi and made it appear to Charles that she was going with the gang to Canada. Furious, Charles took the trip away from Chad with little explanation.

In April 2010, Charles was hospitalized after being attacked on the pier. He blamed F.B.I. agent Rafe Hernandez, Gabi's brother. His wife, Madeline, assured her husband Rafe would pay the crime. Later, Chad arrived to see his father and, when he questioned his father's suspicion that Rafe was the culprit, Charles harshly criticized his son, stating, among other insults, that he should have left him in boarding school. Madeline tried to soothe things over between them, but neither man seemed calmed by her words and Charles remained adamant that Rafe was guilty. Eventually, Charles would set his sights on Rafe's sister, Arianna Hernandez. When she was arrested for the crimes, he did all he could to ensure she remained in jail.

Unfortunately, his vendetta against Arianna took a backseat when Madeline died suddenly on July 19, 2010. Although she had accidentally fallen down the stairs at the pier during an argument with Chad, her official cause of death turned out to be a ruptured brain aneurysm. Nevertheless, Charles blamed Chad and harshly berated his already grief-stricken, guilt-filled son by blaming him. He told Chad that he simply saw his as the man who killed his wife. Chad was devastated by his father's treatment, but Kate DiMera tried to encourage Chad to talk to his father. Chad eventually formed a tentative bond with Stefano and the DiMera family.

D.A. Woods appeared from time-to-time to speak to the Salem P.D. about the prosecution of cases.