Mаrquis Brown was triedby a Clayton County jury and convicted on four counts of child molestation.
“On appeal from a criminal conviction, the defendant is no longer еntitled to a presumption of innocence and we therefore construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s guilty verdict.” (Citation omitted.) Marriott v. State,
J. C. testified that when she was seven years old she was watching television in a bedroom with Brown when Brown moved close to her and fondled her buttocks. He then instructed J. C. that if she told anyone about the incident, he would kill the girl and her mother. J. C. further testified that on another occasion she was watching television when Brown entered the roоm and began to play a DVD of a pornographic movie. When J. C. closed her eyes to avoid watching the television screen, Brown told her to open her eyes and made her stay in the room and watch the movie twice. And Brown again told J. C. that if she reported the incident to anyone, he would kill her family. On a third occasion, J. C. was lying on her mother’s bed with Brоwn, with the two of them on opposite sides. Brown suddenly grabbed J. C.’s hand, pulled it toward him and under the covers, and placed the child’s hand on his penis.
J. C.’s older sister, T. D., testified that when she was 12 years old, she returned from a trip to the swimming pool and Brown told her to shower and wash her hair, which she did. After she finished her shower and dressed, Brown came into the bathroom naked and insisted that T. D. had not washed her hair. Although T. D. tried to argue with Brown about this fact, he made her undress and take a second shower to re-wash her hair. As T. D. was showering a second time, Brown, who was still naked, joined T. D. in the shower, stood in front of her, and washed her hair himself.
Brown’s conduct came to light after he and the girls’ mother broke up and he moved out of their house. During a conversаtion with her mother, J. C. stated that while she missed Brown’s children, she did not miss Brown.
At trial, J. C. explained that she did not report the incidents at the time they occurred because she believed Brown when he said he would kill her mother and her family if she told anyone. T. D. testified that she did not report the molestation to her mother when it happened because she was afraid her mother “would get beat up again.” She then explained that Brown had beaten her mother on prior occasions.
After the mother learned of the molestation, she contacted police. Officers then interviewed both girls, and both J. C. and T. D. provided police with written statements about the acts of molestation. Additionally, while at home J. C. wrote a second statement about her molestation, which her mother eventually found and gave to police. All three of these written statements were admitted into evidence at trial.
The police arranged for both of the victims to undergo forensic interviews at a local facility specializing in assisting victims of child abuse and molestations. Each of these interviews was recorded, and copies of these recordings were introduced into evidence and played for the jury. Chantsy Watkins, the certified forensic interviewer who conducted the interviews оf both J. C. and T. D., testified at trial and was qualified as an expert in the forensic interviewing of children. Watkins opined that the statements made by each of the victims during their respective interviews were consistent with their claims of molestation. She further testified that, in her professional opinion, neither of the victims exhibited any signs of havingbeen coached with respect to their allegations.
Brown testified in his own defense and denied that he had ever touched either of the victims inappropriately or that any of the incidents the victims testified about had happened.
Based on the foregoing evidence, the jury found Brown guilty of four counts of child molestation. Following his conviction, Brown filed a motion for a new trial, which was denied. Brown subsequently filed a motion for an out-of-time appeal, which the trial court granted. This appeal followed.
1. Brown argues that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his convictions for two reasons. First, Brown points to the fact that the only evidence supporting these allegations are the statements and testimony of the victims themselves, and their testimony was contradicted by his own. Georgia law, however, “does not require corroboration of a child molestation victim’s testimony.” (Punctuation and footnote omitted.) Barnes v. State,
Brown also points out that to convict him of child molestation, the State was required to prove that he committed an “immoral or indecent act to or in the presence of or with any child under the age of 16 years with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of either the child or the person.” OCGA § 16-6-4 (a) (1). Brown contends that even if the State did prove that he forced J. C. to watch pornography and showered with T. D., the State failed to prove that he engaged in that conduct “with the intent to arouse or satisfy [his] sexual desires.” In
The child molestation statute “does not require proof of [the defendant’s] actual arousal.” Cline v. State,
We have previously found that evidence showing that the defendant “[sjimply expos[ed] [his] sexual organs to a child without any physical conduct,” even if the child did not actually see those organs, sufficed to prove that the defendant acted with the intent to arouse or gratify his sexual desires. Rainey v. State,
2. In the written statement that she provided to police, T. D. wrote that Brown’s daughter, A. B., told T. D. “how she was so glad that [Brown] was gone [from her house,] because ... he use[d] to beat them or give them whooping[s] for no reason. She [A. B.] said if they [the children] asked a question like[,] ‘Can I get something to drink? [,]’ [Brown] would yell and whoop them.” Prior to trial, the State made a motion in limine seeking permission to enter a redacted version of T. D.’s written statement into evidence; specifically, the State proposed redacting the hearsay regarding statements allegedly made to T. D. by Brown’s daughter. Brown opposed the motion in limine, arguing that he wanted to use T. D.’s hearsay statements to impeach her credibility. In support of this argument, Brown asserted that he planned to call his daughtеr as a witness at trial and that she would testify that she and T. D. never had the conversation referenced in T. D.’s written statement. The trial court overruled Brown’s objection to the redacted statement, noting that the part of the statement at issue constituted hearsay and that whether T. D. lied about being told that Brown was “mean” was irrelevant to the issues at trial.
Even assuming that the trial court’s ruling was erroneous, such error does not provide a basis for reversal unless Brown was harmed by that error. Martinez v. State,
Brown’s claim of error also presents no basis for reversal because he did not ask that a transcript of the hearing on his motion fоr a new trial be included in the appellate record. The purpose of a hearing on a defendant’s motion for a new trial is to allow the defendant an opportunity to show the court below that some error or deficiency occurred at trial and that as a result, the defendant suffered some harm (or that some harm must be presumed). A neсessary component of a new trial hearing, therefore, is the presentation of evidence and legal arguments demonstrating harm to the defendant and/or refuting the defendant’s claim of harm. When a defendant appeals from an order denying his motion for a new trial on the grounds he suffered harmful error, he is necessarily contending that the evidence and legal arguments presented at the motion for new trial hearing did not support the trial court’s findings that no error and/or no harm occurred. Obviously, we cannot review such a claim of error in the absence of a transcript showing what evidence and arguments were presented to the trial court. See Frank v. State,
3. Brown contends that the lower court erred in allowing the testimony of T. D.
“Whether to admit evidence is a matter resting in the trial court’s sound discretion, and evidencе that is relevant and material to an issue in the case is not rendered inadmissible because it incidentally places the defendant’s character in issue.” (Punctuation and footnote omitted.) Hernandez v. State,
In this case, the testimony at issue was offered for the limited purpose of explaining T. D.’s delay in reporting the act of molestation until after Brown and her mother were no longer in a relationship and Brown had moved out of the family home.
For the reasons set forth above, we affirm the trial court’s denial of Brown’s motion for a new trial.
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
OCGA § 16-6-4 (a) (1). The jury acquitted Brown on one count of rape, one count of aggravated sodomy, one count of child molestation, and one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes. The trial court directed a verdict of acquittal on one count of aggravated child molestation and one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes.
We emphasize that the record reflects that Brown was notified of what transcripts were being included in the record on appeal and was offered the opportunity to designate any additional transcripts he felt were necessary to his appeal, including the transcript of the motion for new trial hearing. Brown’s counsel, however, affirmatively represented to the trial court’s clerk’s office that he was not designating any additional transcripts for inclusion in the appellate record.
Brown also claims that the trial court erred in allowing the testimony of T. D.’s mother on this issue. Our review of the mother’s trial testimony, however, shows that she did not testify as to any acts of violence perpetrated against her by Brown.
Immediately following T. D.’s testimony on this issue the trial court gave a limiting instruction to the jury, explaining that they could consider this testimony for “the sole purpose of explaining, if it does, the child’s conduct and what steps she took in this incident.”