Morris v. the State, 341 Ga. App. 568

In 2012 David Morris lived with his wife and her two children, including nine-year-old B.A.; B.A. later accused Morris of multiple sexual acts spanning two residences.
B.A. first disclosed abuse to her brother and a babysitter; her mother initially discouraged telling Morris and did not report; B.A.’s father later learned of the allegations, reported to police, and law enforcement reopened the matter after seeing therapy notes.
B.A. gave forensic interviews and therapy revealed multiple incidents (digital penetration, oral sex, touching); a counselor possessed a drawing by B.A. depicting oral penetration.
Morris was indicted and convicted by a jury of aggravated child molestation, child molestation, and aggravated sexual battery; he filed a motion for new trial which was denied.
On appeal Morris challenged: (1) the trial court’s grant of the State’s motion in limine barring cross-examination of the victim’s father about his own alleged childhood sexual abuse; (2) the scope of child-hearsay testimony from the therapist and psychologist; and (3) admission of the undisclosed drawing from therapy.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial court erred by barring cross-examination of victim’s father about his own childhood sexual abuse	Morris: father’s alleged abuse explains his zeal to reopen investigation and bears on victim credibility via motive	State: father’s history is irrelevant and would confuse/prejudice jury	Court: Exclusion proper — father’s alleged abuse not logically relevant to victim’s credibility; no abuse of discretion
Whether child-hearsay testimony by therapist/psychologist should be limited to details B.A. testified to at trial	Morris: allowing broader out-of-court statements prejudices right to confrontation and fairness	State: child-hearsay statute and precedent allow admission to spare child from detailed testimony; court has broad discretion	Court: No error — former OCGA §24‑3‑16 does not require the child to repeat all details; trial court did not abuse discretion
Whether admitting a therapy drawing not produced in discovery violated discovery rules and prejudiced Morris	Morris: nondisclosure prevented meaningful pretrial review and caused prejudice	State: drawing not in State’s possession but therapist’s discovered notes described it; no bad faith; drawing cumulative	Court: Admission proper — no bad faith, defendant had descriptive discovery, evidence cumulative; no prejudice shown

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
Funck v. State, 296 Ga. 371 (scope of cross-examination within trial court discretion)
Hatley v. State, 290 Ga. 480 (child must testify under former child‑hearsay statute when defendant objects)
Maurer v. State, 320 Ga. App. 585 (former OCGA §24-3-16 does not require child to corroborate hearsay; trial court discretion)
Adams v. State, 340 Ga. App. 1 (remedies for discovery noncompliance reviewed for abuse of discretion)
McMorris v. State, 263 Ga. App. 630 (admission of undisclosed cumulative evidence not reversible absent bad faith or prejudice)