## Facts

- Jimmy Dean Varnes had a prior conviction for indecency with a child, a reportable conviction requiring registration under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 62.
- Before his release, a parole officer conducted a pre-release interview (March 3, 1999) and read Varnes all registration requirements, including that he must register with local law enforcement after release regardless of parole status.
- A second officer corroborated that the requirements were reviewed term-by-term with Varnes.
- Varnes refused parole conditions and remained incarcerated until his sentence expired, then was released.
- After release, Varnes moved from Calhoun County to Galveston County (around August 1999) and lived in the Crystal Beach area and later with his daughter, both in Galveston County.
- On October 1, 1999, an investigation determined Varnes was not registered in Galveston County or anywhere else.
- Varnes was indicted for intentionally and knowingly failing to register with local law enforcement within seven days of arriving in Galveston County.
- A jury found Varnes guilty, found an enhancement paragraph true, and assessed punishment at twenty years’ imprisonment.

## Issues

1. Whether Chapter 62 was unconstitutional as applied because Varnes allegedly lacked notice of the duty to register and because state officials allegedly failed to perform their statutory duties related to registration.
2. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to prove Varnes was required to register, resided in Galveston County for the charged period, and failed to register within the statutory deadline.
3. Whether the State proved the elements necessary to classify the offense as a third-degree felony and support the enhanced punishment.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the conviction and sentence.
- Many constitutional complaints were deemed waived for failure to raise them in the trial court.
- On the merits, the court held due process was satisfied because Varnes received actual notice of the registration obligation, including that it applied regardless of parole status.
- The court rejected the argument that the State’s alleged failure to carry out its own statutory tasks excused Varnes’s nonregistration.
- The court held the evidence was legally sufficient to support the jury’s findings that Varnes had a reportable conviction, resided in Galveston County for more than seven days, and failed to register within seven days of arrival.
- The court held the State proved the offense grade and the enhancement found by the jury, making the twenty-year sentence valid.

## Legal Principles

- Constitutional challenges generally must be preserved by a timely, specific trial-court objection; unpreserved complaints are waived on appeal.
- Due process for a failure-to-register prosecution is satisfied by proof of actual notice of the registration duty.
- Chapter 62 imposes a direct, personal duty on the offender to register; alleged nonperformance of administrative duties by state officials does not negate the offender’s obligation or bar prosecution.
- Legal sufficiency review asks whether, viewing evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, a rational jury could find each element beyond a reasonable doubt.

## Conclusion

The court upheld Varnes’s conviction for failing to register as a sex offender, holding that actual notice established due process, state administrative shortcomings did not excuse noncompliance, and the evidence supported both guilt and the third-degree felony classification with enhancement.


Varnes v. State, 63 S.W.3d 824 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2001, pet. ref’d)