Heard v. State, 317 Ga. App. 663

Heard was convicted after a bench trial of criminal attempt to entice a child for indecent purposes.
In July 2011, a 12-year-old victim received texts from an unknown number that, later, she learned was Heard.
The messages included Heard asking the victim to send a naked photo; the victim refused and explained Heard was old and that it was wrong.
The victim notified Heard’s son to tell Heard to stop texting; Heard’s wife later confronted Heard, who admitted sending a text and may have forwarded a naked-picture request.
A Verizon representative testified about roughly 40 text exchanges between Heard’s wife’s phone and the victim’s phone within a short time frame.
The State charged Heard with one crime: criminal attempt to entice a child for indecent purposes; Heard appealed contending insufficiency of evidence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for attempted enticing	Heard argues no asportation; cannot prove attempted enticing.	Heard contends the evidence shows an attempted enticement toward a completed crime with no asportation required for attempt.	Insufficient evidence to prove all elements of attempted enticing of a child; reversed.

Rankin v. State, 278 Ga. 704 (Ga. 2004) (standard of review for sufficiency; no weight of evidence by appellate court)
Cimildoro v. State, 259 Ga. 788 (Ga. 1990) (asportation element can be satisfied by movement in any form)
Bragg v. State, 217 Ga. App. 342 (Ga. App. 1995) (no evidence of movement toward another place defeats enticing)
Henderson v. State, 303 Ga. App. 531 (Ga. App. 2010) (no evidence defendant enticed or urged movement to another area)
Dennard v. State, 243 Ga. App. 868 (Ga. App. 2000) (attempted enticing may be proven by substantial steps toward meeting where asportation would occur)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (sufficiency review for rational trier of fact beyond reasonable doubt)