McMurtry v. State

791 S.E.2d 196, 338 Ga. App. 622
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedSeptember 15, 2016
DocketA16A1142
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 791 S.E.2d 196 (McMurtry v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McMurtry v. State, 791 S.E.2d 196, 338 Ga. App. 622 (Ga. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Ray, Judge.

A jury convicted Jerome McMurtry of one count of sexual battery (OCGA § 16-6-22.1) as a lesser included offense to child molestation and two counts of child molestation (OCGA § 16-6-4) under a redacted indictment.1 The convictions resulted from his actions toward A. L., a ten-year-old girl. He appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial, arguing that the trial court erred in denying his motion for new trial on the general grounds; in refusing to instruct the jury on simple battery as a lesser included offense to child molestation; and in admitting A. L.’s prior out-of-court statements. He also argues that the State failed to disprove his defense of accident and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

Under the standard set forth in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (III) (B) (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979), the evidence shows that McMurtry stayed as a guest in A. L.’s home in December 2013. He is A. L.’s great uncle. A. L. testified that he “would say nasty things” to her, “[l]ike you’re sexy or stuff like that.” She testified that at one point while they both were clothed, he told her to “get on the floor,” got behind her, and “dry-humped” her while laughing. On another occasion, McMurtry told A. L. to “sit on his lap,” but when her mother opened the garage door, he told her to get off and not to tell anyone. Additionally, when using the bathroom, he left the door open, then told her to “look, I’m done[,]” and when she looked, his penis was out. One night, after she had gone to bed, she felt “something down near in my private part” and awoke to find him bending over her, with [623]*623his hand in her nightclothes, “pushing up like into my private part.” She told McMurtry to “get out.” She then woke her parents, telling them that McMurtry “put his hands in my pants. Well, on me.” When A. L.’s mother confronted McMurtry shortly after her daughter’s outcry, he initially said he was looking for the remote. When she challenged him, saying, “under her covers?” he then said, “I was just playing with her.”

At trial, McMurtry testified in his own defense. When the State asked McMurtry if his explanation was that he was just looking for a remote control “in a ten-year-old girl’s bed between her legs[,]” he responded that “everybody looks for a controller in that house, man ... [everybody] pulled up the cover. I’ve done it, the father been there and done it. I mean looking for the controller. Wasn’t no hanky-panky towards his daughter. ... I did not molest her.”

He testified that he was drunk on the evening that A. L. reported the inappropriate touching. He stated that during the week he stayed at A. L.’s house, he was drunk for two or three days and that his “pattern” was to black out, and “when you’re blackout drunk, you don’t know what you’re doing.” However, he acknowledged that he did remember a little bit about the evening when A. L. said he touched her inappropriately and recalled interactions with A. L.’s parents, although he said he could not recall touching A. L. He agreed that when police, in a recorded interview, asked if he touched A. L.’s vagina, he responded that he was “stone drunk. I don’t know what I did[,]” and acknowledged that this was a “contradiction” to his outright denial that he had molested her.

A. L.’s mother testified that although McMurtry had been drinking earlier during the day that A. L. said he molested her, the mother was familiar with what he was like when drunk. She testified that, by contrast, when she confronted him shortly after A. L. had reported the touching around midnight, he was walking, talking and coherent.

1. McMurtry contends that the trial court “abused its discretion when it failed to grant a motion for new trial on the general grounds” as to Count 2 of the redacted indictment.2 This count accused McMur-try of “rubbing [A. L.’s] vagina over the clothing with the intent to arouse and satisfy the sexual desires of said accused[.]” He argues that the evidence was “insufficient” to show the intent required by OCGA § 16-6-4 (a). He essentially contends that there was no evidence to show he was not intoxicated and that his intoxication pre-[624]*624eluded his ability to form the requisite intent when he touched A. L.

[A] motion for new trial based on OCGA § 5-5-20, i.e., that the verdict is contrary to the evidence, addresses itself only to the discretion of the trial judge. Whether to grant a new trial based on OCGA § 5-5-21, i.e., that the verdict is strongly against the evidence, is one that is solely in the discretion of the trial court, and the appellate courts do not have the same discretion to order new trials. Thus, even when an appellant asks this Court to review a trial court’s refusal to grant a new trial on the general grounds, this Court must review the case under the standard set forth in Jackson v. Virginia, supra, that is, if the evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, supports the verdict or verdicts.

(Citations and punctuation omitted.) Allen v. State, 296 Ga. 738, 741 (2) (770 SE2d 625) (2015). The record shows that the trial court correctly exercised its discretion. See Leggett v. State, 331 Ga. App. 343, 345 (2) (771 SE2d 50) (2015) (appellate courts will not presume that a trial court erred where such fact does not affirmatively appear).

Despite McMurtry’s contentions that his intoxication negated his intent, McMurtry testified that on the night of the touching and outcry, he was drinking with A. L.’s parents and that he visits them for that purpose: “I go over there to drink.” As McMurtry’s own testimony indicates that he drank voluntarily on the night in question and on other days implicated in the indictment, his alleged intoxication cannot negate his intent. OCGA § 16-3-4 (c) (‘"Voluntary intoxication shall not be an excuse for any criminal act”). Compare OCGA § 16-3-4 (a) and (b).

Further, A. L.’s mother testified that when she confronted McMur-try that night after her daughter reported the inappropriate touching, he was walking and talking, was not incoherent and had not been drinking to the point where he “had no idea” what had happened. A. L. testified, as outlined above, to McMurtry’s inappropriate touching. Witness credibility is, of course, for the trier of fact rather than this Court. Couch v. State, 248 Ga.App. 238, 239 (1) (545 SE2d 685) (2001) (where defendant testified that he fondled underage girl in the shower because it was too dark to see and he thought she was his wife, jury was authorized to believe child’s testimony that it was light enough to see).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Charles James Spikes v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2025
Wipfel v. State
907 S.E.2d 639 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2024)
Rodney Miles v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2022
Ricky Martin v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2019
Martin v. State
825 S.E.2d 227 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2019)
STALLINGS v. the STATE.
806 S.E.2d 613 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2017)
Turner v. the State
805 S.E.2d 624 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2017)
Latta v. the State
802 S.E.2d 264 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
791 S.E.2d 196, 338 Ga. App. 622, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcmurtry-v-state-gactapp-2016.