White v. State, A89A1289
Decision Date | 07 November 1989 |
Docket Number | No. A89A1289,A89A1289 |
Parties | WHITE v. The STATE. |
Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Robert H. Reeves, Americus, for appellant.
John R. Parks, Dist. Atty., Barbara A. BeCraft, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.
Defendant Johnny F. White was tried and convicted by a jury of two counts of aggravated child molestation in Lee County, Georgia. He appeals from the trial court's denial of his motion for new trial. We affirm.
1. Defendant contends that the State failed to prove venue as to both counts. Count one of the indictment concerned an incident that allegedly occurred on April 7, 1988, when the defendant, against medical advice, removed the victim, his eight-year-old daughter, from Southwest Regional Hospital, where she had been placed because of severe behavioral problems. According to the statement of the defendant, which was entered into evidence at trial, and the videotaped testimony of the victim, the defendant and the victim were travelling from the hospital in Thomas County, Georgia, to their home in Lee County, when the defendant left the main road and went behind a barn where he instructed the victim to undress. Defendant stated that he fondled the victim while masturbating. The victim told hospital workers that the defendant fondled her and placed his mouth on her genitals while masturbating. Neither the victim nor the defendant could identify which county they were in when these acts took place.
In general, criminal actions shall be tried in the county where the crime was committed. OCGA § 17-2-2(a). However, "[i]f a crime is committed upon any ... vehicle ... within this state and it cannot readily be determined in which county the crime was committed, the crime shall be considered as having been committed in any county in which the crime could have been committed through which the ... vehicle ... has traveled." Here the evidence shows that the defendant traveled with the victim from Thomas County, where the hospital was located, to Lee County where the defendant lived with the victim and her siblings. Consequently, the evidence of venue as to count one was sufficient. See Polk v. State, 142 Ga.App. 785(2), 236 S.E.2d 926 (1977).
The second count of the indictment concerned acts of molestation which allegedly occurred between January and April of 1988, after defendant moved from Cussetta, Georgia, in Chattahoochee County to Lee County. Defendant admitted to molesting his daughter on three occasions while the family was residing in Cussetta. The victim told workers at the hospital that the molestation had been occurring for approximately two years, and that the father had attempted penetration when they were living in Cussetta, but since that time the acts had consisted of fondling and oral sodomy. Evidence was also presented that the victim had a history of behavior problems and that these problems were most severe when the victim was living with her father and less severe when she was living with her grandmother. A social worker testified that the victim's behavioral problems had increased in severity after the victim had moved back in with her father while he was living in Lee County. Testimony was also presented that the victim's behavior problems and test results were consistent with a child who had been sexually abused. Taylor v. State, 176 Ga.App. 567(1)(a), 336 S.E.2d 832 (1985). See also Woodruff v. State, 191 Ga.App. 338, 381 S.E.2d 582 (1989).
2. Defendant also contends that he was rendered ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. Specifically, defendant argues that trial counsel was unprepared, that he failed to conduct a thorough cross-examination of the State's witnesses, that he failed to put the defendant on the stand, that he failed to call certain witnesses who would have given testimony beneficial to the defendant, and that he failed to pursue vigorously certain challenges to the evidence and motions made on the defendant's behalf.
Pursuant to the two-prong test enunciated in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), defendant must meet two tests in order to prevail on his ineffective assistance of counsel claim: "1) he must show that trial counsel's performance was deficient in that he made errors so serious that he was not functioning as the 'counsel' guaranteed defendant by the Sixth Amendment; 2) defendant must show that the defense was prejudiced by the deficient performance so that defendant was deprived of a fair trial, one whose results were reliable. [Cit.]" Hosch v. State, 185 Ga.App. 71, 72, 363 S.E.2d 258 (1987). As to the first prong, the Supreme Court has approved the "reasonably effective assistance" standard adopted in Pitts v. Glass, 231 Ga. 638, 203 S.E.2d 515 (1974). Thompson v. State, 188 Ga.App. 508, 509, 373 S.E.2d 292 (1988). " Gainer v. State, 188 Ga.App. 314, 315, 372 S.E.2d 848 (1988).
Our review of the trial transcript reveals that in the instant case defense counsel was, contrary to defendant's assertions, versed in both the law and the facts of the case, that he conducted a thorough cross-examination of the State's witnesses, that he made a pre-trial motion in limine and that he moved for a directed verdict at the close of the case. Although counsel did not place the defendant on the stand or present any witnesses in his behalf, the record discloses that counsel attempted, through his cross-examination of other witnesses, to show both that the defendant's statement was involuntarily given and that the statements made by the victim should not be believed.
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