Laster v. the State, 340 Ga. App. 96

Defendant Richard Earl Laster (then 29) was tried and convicted by a jury in 2014 of child molestation and sexual battery involving a victim who was 12–13 when the conduct began. The victim and her family were close to Laster; he communicated with the victim by sexual texts, letters, and a secret phone, and visited her school.
The victim disclosed abuse after explicit texts were discovered; she gave statements to her aunt, mother, a detective, and a forensic interviewer, and later testified at trial consistent with those statements.
Multiple witnesses (aunt, mother, detective) testified before the child, recounting the child’s out‑of‑court statements describing sexual contact. Laster objected on hearsay/bolstering grounds.
The trial court admitted the out‑of‑court statements under the Child Hearsay Statute (OCGA § 24‑3‑16 (2012)); Laster did not contest statutory prerequisites on appeal.
The court instructed the jury that under Georgia law a person under 16 lacks legal capacity to consent to sexual conduct. After trial, Georgia Supreme Court decided Watson v. State (2015), holding sexual battery requires proof of lack of consent regardless of victim’s age.
On appeal the Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction generally but reversed the sexual battery conviction because the pre‑Watson jury instruction relieved the State of proving lack of consent and the error was not harmless.

Issue	Laster's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Admissibility of witnesses’ testimony repeating child’s out‑of‑court statements (bolstering/hearsay)	Testimony improperly bolstered victim before her credibility was tested; should be excluded as hearsay	Statements admissible under Child Hearsay Statute; order of witnesses irrelevant	Court: Admission proper under OCGA § 24‑3‑16 (2012); no error
Jury instruction that persons under 16 lack capacity to consent for sexual battery	Instruction relieved State of proving lack of consent and was erroneous under later rule	At time of trial instruction reflected then‑existing law	Court: Instruction conflicted with Watson (require proof of lack of consent); error not harmless; sexual battery conviction reversed

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of evidence review)
Watson v. State, 297 Ga. 718 (holding sexual battery requires proof of lack of consent regardless of victim’s age)
Woodard v. State, 269 Ga. 317 (prior consistent statements as hearsay absent veracity in issue)
Ledford v. State, 313 Ga. App. 389 (Child Hearsay Statute permits testimony about child’s out‑of‑court statements even if bolstering)
Hilliard v. State, 298 Ga. App. 473 (order of witnesses irrelevant for admissibility under child‑hearsay statute)
Johnson v. State, 238 Ga. 59 ("highly probable" harmless‑error test applied to erroneous jury instructions)