Stevens v. The State

Summary

The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed Brandon Stevens’s convictions for aggravated child molestation, child molestation, statutory rape, and enticing a child for indecent purposes. The court held that the challenged jury instructions were not coercive, any error in charging the entire aggravated child molestation statute was harmless, and the trial court properly excluded evidence concerning the victim’s alleged molestation by others. The court also rejected Stevens’s claims of ineffective assistance of counsel.

Holdings

1. Any error in charging the entirety of OCGA § 16-6-4 (c), including the physical-injury alternative not alleged in the indictment, was harmless and did not warrant reversal under plain-error review.
2. The trial court's supplemental instructions were not coercive, and Stevens failed to demonstrate plain error.
3. The evidence was inadmissible under the version of Georgia's rape-shield statute in effect at the time of trial because it did not directly involve Stevens and was not offered for a purpose related to consent.
4. Stevens failed to establish ineffective assistance because counsel was not deficient for failing to object to a noncoercive instruction or for failing to offer inadmissible evidence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether charging the entire aggravated child molestation statute, when the indictment alleged only aggravated child molestation based on acts of sodomy, constituted reversible plain error.
2. Whether the trial court's supplemental instructions and handling of the jury's deliberations coerced the verdict.
3. Whether the trial court erred by excluding cross-examination concerning C. G.'s allegations that other people had molested her.
4. Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the allegedly coercive instruction and for failing to introduce evidence concerning C. G.'s sexual relationship with her boyfriend.

Disposition

affirmed