Richard Wayne Rains v. The State of Texas

Summary

The Texas Court of Appeals, Third District, affirmed Richard Wayne Rains’s conviction for repeated violation of a protective order and his life sentence as a habitual offender. The court held that omissions in the jury charge concerning service and notice did not cause egregious harm, and that Rains forfeited his Eighth Amendment challenge by failing to object to the sentence. The opinion is designated a memorandum opinion and is not for publication.

Holdings

1. The trial court erred by omitting from the abstract charge the definition of conduct committed 'in violation of' a Chapter 85 protective order and by omitting from the application charge the element that Rains received service of the protective-order application and notice of the hearing.
2. The jury-charge omissions did not cause egregious harm and therefore did not warrant reversal.
3. Rains forfeited his gross-disproportionality and cruel-and-unusual-punishment challenge by failing to object to his sentence or raise the claim in a post-trial motion.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the jury charge erroneously omitted a definition of conduct committed 'in violation of a protective order issued under Chapter 85, Family Code' and omitted as an element that Rains had been served with the protective-order application and received notice of the hearing.
2. Whether the omitted jury-charge requirements caused egregious harm when Rains did not object to the charge.
3. Whether Rains's life sentence for repeated violation of a protective order was grossly disproportionate and therefore cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment despite his failure to object in the trial court.

Disposition

affirmed