Phelps v. State, 61667
| Decision Date | 07 April 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 61667,61667 |
| Citation | 279 S.E.2d 513,158 Ga.App. 219 |
| Parties | PHELPS v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Lawrence Lee Washburn III, Atlanta, for appellant.
Lewis R. Slaton, Dist. Atty., Joseph J. Drolet, Wallace Speed, Margaret V. Lines, Asst. Dist. Attys., for appellee.
Defendant appeals his conviction for child molestation. Held :
1. The state's motion to dismiss the appeal because defendant's motion for new trial was not filed within 30 days of entry of the verdict and sentence is denied. Defendant's notice of appeal was filed within 30 days of the denial of his motion for new trial. "So long as the notice of appeal is filed within 30 days following for new trial, the appeal is timely. Love v. State, 144 Ga.App. 728, 731, 242 S.E.2d 278).
2. Defendant's sole contention is that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of other similar offenses. We find no error.
The state produced evidence that the defendant had committed anal sodomy on the 5-year-old male alleged victim. It then presented the testimony of two girls who stated that less than three years before the alleged offense, when they were aged seven and eleven, the defendant had indecently fondled them.
In sexual offense crimes evidence of similar prior acts is admissible to show the lustful disposition of the defendant and to corroborate the testimony of the victim as to the acts charged. Felts v. State, 154 Ga.App. 571, 269 S.E.2d 73.
A similar rule obtains in cases of non-sexual abuse of children. Smith v. State, 154 Ga.App. 497, 499-500, 268 S.E.2d 714.
Defendant argues that the fondling of the two girls was not similar to the acts charged because of the difference in the types of acts committed and the sex of the victims. We do not agree. The sexual molestation of young children, regardless of sex or type of act, is sufficient similarity to make the evidence admissible.
Defendant's contention that Pickelseimer v. State, 154 Ga.App. 223(2), 267 S.E.2d 845, is authority for excluding the prior offenses because of...
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...to present proof of the similarity at trial, as recognized by the trial court, in Miller, supra, this court citing Phelps v. State, 158 Ga.App. 219, 220, 279 S.E.2d 513 held, and has continually applied for the last decade, the well-established rule that "[t]he sexual molestation of young c......
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...of young children, regardless of sex or type of act, is sufficiently similar to make the evidence admissible." Phelps v. State, 158 Ga.App. 219, 279 S.E.2d 513, 514 (1981). Also see Anglin v. State, 173 Ga.App. 648, 327 S.E.2d 776 In a similar vein it has been declared "the motive, the desi......
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...v. State, 95 Ga.App. 79, 80, 97 S.E.2d 194." Felts v. State, 154 Ga.App. 571(2), 269 S.E.2d 73 (1980). See also Phelps v. State, 158 Ga.App. 219(2), 279 S.E.2d 513 (1981). Although there is no indication that either of the prior sexual offenses at issue in the case before us now involved ch......
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Oller v. State, 76449
...is of sufficient similarity to make the evidence admissible. Keeler v. State, 181 Ga.App. 208(2), 351 S.E.2d 731; Phelps v. State, 158 Ga.App. 219, 220(2), 279 S.E.2d 513. Moreover, we are satisfied that evidence of a conviction for incest with either a natural child or stepchild of unspeci......
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Evidence - Marc T. Treadwell
...at 35. 47. Id. at 30, 430 S.E.2d at 37. 48. Id. at 31, 430 S.E.2d at 38. 49. Id. at 32, 430 S.E.2d at 38 (quoting Phelps v. State, 158 Ga. App. 219, 220, 279 S.E.2d 513, 514 (1981)). 50. Id. 51. Id. at 34, 430 S.E.2d at 40. 52. 209 Ga. App. 606, 434 S.E.2d 148 (1993). 53. Id. at 607, 434 S.......