Richard Charles Owings, Jr. v. State

507 S.W.3d 294, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 9615, 2016 WL 4536449
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 30, 2016
Docket01-15-00132-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 507 S.W.3d 294 (Richard Charles Owings, Jr. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richard Charles Owings, Jr. v. State, 507 S.W.3d 294, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 9615, 2016 WL 4536449 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

OPINION

Evelyn V. Keyes, Justice

A jury convicted appellant, Richard Charles Owings, Jr., of the first-degree felony offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child and assessed his punishment at thirty years’ confinement.1 In two issues, appellant contends that the trial court erred by (1) allowing the State to cross-examine him about the underlying facts of his prior conviction for aggravated robbery, and (2) denying his request that the court order the State to elect which of the instances of sexual assault presented during the trial testimony it would rely upon for a conviction.

We reverse and remand.

Background

Appellant was previously married to F.M., the grandmother of the complainant, K.M., who was born in 2003 and was eleven years old at the time of trial. Appellant and K.M. are not biologically related. K.M. and her mother, M.M., occasionally lived with F.M. and appellant, and they all lived together in late 2009 and early 2010. Be[297]*297cause appellant was unemployed during this period of time and both F.M. and M.M. worked, KM. spent a lot of time after school in the care of appellant or K.M.’s uncle, who was in high school. KM. had a “close” relationship with appellant.

F.M. testified that she felt suspicious of appellant’s interactions with K.M. Occasionally, appellant and K.M. would be alone in appellant and F.M.’s bedroom with the door locked, and, when questioned about this, appellant would respond that he and K.M. wanted to spend time together without other family members being involved. F.M. noticed that this happened most often when she and appellant hosted family dinners on Sundays. On one occasion, when appellant unlocked and opened the door, F.M. noticed K.M. standing in the doorway to the bathroom pulling up her pants, and appellant explained that she had just used the bathroom. F.M. testified that the incident seemed “[a] little weird” to her and that, although KM. appeared physically fine, she was acting “like maybe she had done something she shouldn’t have.” F.M. did not suspect sexual abuse at that point in time.

M.M. and K.M. moved out of F.M. and appellant’s house in early 2010, but K.M. still frequently spent time with F.M. and appellant, including Sunday family dinners and holidays. On Thanksgiving day, 2010, F.M. called everyone to the table, but appellant and K.M. did not show up. When F.M. went to the bedroom she shared with appellant, the door was locked, and she told appellant and K.M. that it was time to eat. KM. sat next to F.M. at the table and refused to eat, saying that she was not hungry. When F.M. asked her what was wrong, KM. “looked terrified” and “like she was saying help me.” At this point, F.M. became suspicious that something improper had occurred between appellant and K.M., and she asked KM. about a week later if appellant had ever touched her inappropriately. KM. denied that anything improper had occurred. F.M. “periodically asked K.M. about whether appellant had done anything inappropriate to her, and KM. always denied it.

In February 2011, F.M. filed for divorce from appellant. Two years later, in January 2013, KM. was spending the night at F.M.’s house, and F.M. asked her if she ever missed appellant. KM. started crying, and when F.M. asked if there was anything that KM. wanted to tell her, KM. disclosed that appellant had sexually abused her. F.M. then told M.M. about this conversation, and they called the sheriffs department.

The indictment in this case alleged that, on or about January 1, 2010, appellant “did then and there unlawfully, intentionally and knowingly cause the sexual organ of [KM.], a person younger than fourteen years of age and not the spouse of [appellant], to contact the sexual organ of [appellant].”2

KM. testified that when she was about five years old and F.M. and M.M. were both at work, appellant took her into his bedroom, took off her clothes and his clothes, and laid her down on the bed. Although she started crying and told ap[298]*298pellant to stop, appellant climbed on top of her and vaginally penetrated her. Appellant showed her a knife that he carried around with him all the time, “put it to [her],” and told her that if she told anyone about what had happened, he would hurt her, someone else, or one of her pets. K.M. also testified concerning a separate incident that occurred in appellant’s bedroom in which, in addition to vaginally penetrating her, he made her perform oral sex on him. On another occasion, K.M. was watching a movie in her uncle’s bedroom in appellant and F.M.’s house when appellant came into the room, engaged in vaginal intercourse with KM. and made her perform oral sex on him.

KM. further testified to a fourth incident that occurred after appellant and F.M. had separated in early 2011. Appellant picked her up from where she was living with M.M. to take her to an arcade. On the way there, appellant stopped by his father’s house, where he was living at the time, took her to his bedroom, and forced her to engage in both oral and vaginal intercourse. Appellant then took KM. home and told her to tell M.M. that they had visited the arcade. KM. did not see appellant again after this incident. KM. did not state specific dates for when these actions allegedly occurred.

Lisa Holcomb, a forensic interviewer with the Children’s Assessment Center, and Sarah Valdes, a nurse practitioner with the U.T. Child Abuse Center, conducted KM.’s forensic interview in February 2013 and her physical and genital examination in June 2013, respectively. KM. disclosed to both Holcomb and Valdes that she had been sexually abused, and she was “very detailed” regarding what had happened. K.M. disclosed that appellant would take her into his bedroom and threaten her with a knife and that his “private area” would touch her “private area.” KM. told Holcomb that the abuse happened “a lot” when she was four through eight years old. KM. specifically described to Holcomb an incident that occurred in her uncle’s bedroom in appellant and F.M.’s house in which appellant forced KM., who was five or six years old at the time, to perform oral sex on him. KM. also specifically told Holcomb about an incident that occurred at appellant’s father’s house.

Upon appellant’s request, the trial court verbally instructed the jury pursuant to Code of Criminal Procedure article 38.37 that

[Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts committed by the Defendant against the child who is the victim of the alleged offense in this indictment shall be admitted for its bearing on relevant matters including the state of mind of the Defendant and the child and the previous and subsequent relationship between the Defendant and the child.

The trial court further instructed the jury that it could not consider this evidence for any other purpose. The trial court included a substantially similar instruction in the charge.

After the State rested, defense counsel argued that there had been evidence of “multiple offenses” and multiple dates for the instances of different acts of sexual assault, and he requested that the trial court order the State “to elect which one of the multiple occasions it’s going to rely on.” The trial court stated:

And just so that I’m clear, I have a copy of the indictment in front of me, which we all, obviously, had an opportunity to review it. There is one allegation alleged in the indictment. There is one date that is alleged in the indictment.

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Related

Owings, Richard Charles Jr.
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2017
Freddy Garcia v. State
541 S.W.3d 222 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
507 S.W.3d 294, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 9615, 2016 WL 4536449, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richard-charles-owings-jr-v-state-texapp-2016.