Worley v. State

738 S.E.2d 641, 319 Ga. App. 799, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 357, 2013 WL 617064, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 81
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 20, 2013
DocketA12A1747
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 738 S.E.2d 641 (Worley 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
Worley v. State, 738 S.E.2d 641, 319 Ga. App. 799, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 357, 2013 WL 617064, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 81 (Ga. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

DOYLE, Presiding Judge.

William Clint Worley appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial following his conviction by a jury of aggravated child molestation,1 child molestation,2 and first degree cruelty to children.3 He contends that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict, (2) he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and (3) the trial court erred by admitting child hearsay testimony. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

Construed in favor of the verdict,4 the record shows that on multiple occasions during the time when Worley’s stepdaughter was nine to eleven years old, Worley would call her into his bedroom and force her to touch his private parts and perform oral sex on him. On other occasions when she angered Worley, he struck her, at least one time sending her to the hospital with a suspected broken nose. The victim disclosed the abuse to her grandmother and another person. The victim also described the abuse in a forensic interview arranged by police.

Worley was arrested and charged with three offenses based on the abuse as well as two violations of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act based on methamphetamine and marijuana found in his residence. Worley entered a negotiated guilty plea to the drug offenses, and, following a trial, he was found guilty by a jury on the remaining three offenses. After his motion for new trial was denied, Worley filed this appeal.

1. Worley contends that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict. Specifically, he points to his own testimony denying the abuse, “bad blood” in the family that might be a motive for fabrication, and other testimony calling into question the credibility of the victim’s accusations.

When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence,

the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. This familiar standard gives full play to the responsibility of the trier of fact fairly to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, [800]*800and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts. Once a defendant has been found guilty of the crime charged, the factfinder’s role as weigher of the evidence is preserved through a legal conclusion that upon judicial review all of the evidence is to be considered in the light most favorable to the prosecution.5

Here, the victim described the abuse both to the jury and in a recorded forensic interview that was played for the jury. She included details that the forensic interviewer found inconsistent with someone who had been coached. “As long as there is some competent evidence, even though contradicted, to support each fact necessary to make out the State’s case, the jury’s verdict will be upheld. [Further, t]he testimony of a single witness is generally sufficient to establish a fact.”6 Thus, in this case, the victim’s testimony and taped interview were sufficient to establish the abuse.7 “Resolving evidentiary conflicts and inconsistencies, and assessing witness credibility, are the province of the factfinder, not this Court.”8 Based on the record before us, this enumeration is without merit.

2. Worley next contends that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his trial counsel failed to (a) object to evidence of a past conviction for theft as well as the guilty plea for the drug charges in this case, and (b) object to testimony about the existence of pornography in his bedroom. We find no reversible error.

Under Strickland v. Washington,9 to succeed on an ineffective assistance claim, a criminal defendant must demonstrate both that his trial counsel’s performance was deficient and that there is a reasonable probability that the trial result would have been different if not for the deficient performance.10 “There is a strong presumption that the performance of trial counsel falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance. The reasonableness of the conduct is viewed at the time of trial and under the circumstances of the case.”11 If an appellant fails to meet his burden of proving either prong of the Strickland test, the reviewing court need not examine the other [801]*801prong.12 In reviewing the trial court’s decision, “[w]e accept the trial court’s factual findings and credibility determinations unless clearly erroneous, but we independently apply the legal principles to the facts.”13

(a) Failure to object to prior convictions. Prior to trial, the State indicated its intent to introduce a prior conviction for theft for the purpose of impeaching Worley if he testified. Before Worley was called to the stand, outside of the presence of the jury, the State proffered a certified copy of the conviction for a ruling by the trial court, and Worley’s trial counsel did not object. The State also asked a detective, without objection, about Worley’s guilty plea to the drug offenses related to the case. Worley contends that his trial counsel’s failure to object was ineffective.14

At the motion for new trial hearing, Worley’s trial counsel testified that he allowed the admission of the drug offenses arising from the search warrant executed in this case because he was pursuing a strategy of admitting those offenses and denying the molestation. “[A] tactical decision will not form the basis for an ineffective assistance of counsel claim unless it was so patently unreasonable that no competent attorney would have chosen it,”15 and trial counsel’s decision here was not an incompetent choice.

With respect to the theft offense, to the extent Worley’s counsel could have excluded it,16 Worley cannot now meet his burden to show prejudice because he admitted to the two drug offenses. In light of that admitted criminal behavior (which was closer in time to the indicted offenses), we conclude that there is not a reasonable probability that excluding evidence of the older theft offense would have changed the outcome of trial.

(b) Failure to object to testimony about the existence of pornography in his bedroom. Worley also contends that his trial counsel should have objected to evidence of pornography that was found in his bedroom. Worley was able to exclude admission of the actual print and video pornography, but he did not object when the State asked the victim if she had ever seen pornography in the house. The victim stated that she had seen the items in Worley’s bathroom and in a [802]*802drawer. An investigating officer also testified without objection that he seized pornographic material described by the victim when executing a search warrant at Worley’s house.

In Simpson v. State17 the Supreme Court of Georgia announced the following rule:

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Related

Allen v. the State
785 S.E.2d 588 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2016)

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Bluebook (online)
738 S.E.2d 641, 319 Ga. App. 799, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 357, 2013 WL 617064, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 81, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/worley-v-state-gactapp-2013.