Kenneth Howard Williamsv.The State
A jury convicted Kenneth Williams of two counts of child molestation and one count of aggravated sexual battery based on evidence that he touched his young step-grandchild. The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the child-molestation convictions but reversed the aggravated-sexual-battery conviction and remanded for a new trial. The evidence was sufficient for a jury to find that Williams’s finger penetrated the child’s vagina, even though the child gave some inconsistent or developmentally limited testimony at trial; other statements and the forensic interview supplied evidence of penetration and lack of consent. The court nevertheless was required to reverse the aggravated-sexual-battery conviction under controlling Supreme Court of Georgia precedent concerning the offense. The court declined to address additional ineffective-assistance claims tied only to that count because they were moot or unlikely to recur in the retrial. The child-molestation convictions remained intact, while the aggravated-sexual-battery charge returned to the trial court for further proceedings.
Loading published copy…

