Christopher Lee Head v. the State of Texas

Summary

The Texas Court of Appeals for the Seventh District affirmed Christopher Lee Head’s conviction for continuous sexual abuse of a child and his life sentence. The court held that the trial court properly designated the outcry witnesses and that Head failed to preserve his challenge to evidence of physical abuse against the child’s mother.

Holdings

1. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by designating Castillo as the outcry witness for most of the offenses and Bishop as the outcry witness for the Florida incident because each was the first person able to remember and relate the child's statements about the relevant acts in a discernible manner.
2. Head failed to preserve any challenge to the admission of evidence that he physically abused Castillo because, after one objection was overruled, he did not continue objecting, request a running objection, or seek a hearing outside the jury's presence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by designating Jordan Castillo and Bethany Bishop, rather than Christopher Martinez, as outcry witnesses for particular acts of child sexual abuse.
2. Whether Head preserved his challenge to the admission of extraneous-offense evidence that he physically abused Castillo.

Disposition

affirmed