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State v. Ashley

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting three similar transactions in the defendant's trial on charges of kidnapping, attempted kidnapping and criminal trespass for the purpose of showing his intent and his desires towards young children.

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In 2012, Thad Lee Ashley was convicted of kidnapping a seven-year-old girl, attempting to kidnap her three-year-old sister, and criminal trespass at the trailer park where his father lived. At trial, the jury heard evidence of these crimes as well as evidence of three earlier incidents at the trailer park’s pool when Ashley had behaved inappropriately towards young children. The trial court admitted the evidence of these other incidents as similar transaction evidence under Georgia’s old Evidence Code, which applied at the time of Ashley’s trial, for the purpose of showing his intent when he engaged in the acts alleged in the indictment and his desires towards young children.

Ashley appealed, contending among other things that the trial court abused its discretion when it admitted the similar transaction evidence. In a 4-3 decision, the Court of Appeals agreed and reversed Ashley’s convictions on that ground. See Ashley v. State, 331 Ga. App. 794, 794 771 SE2d 462 2015. This Court granted the State’s petition for certiorari to consider whether the Court of Appeals erred in that respect. We conclude that it did, so we reverse that portion of the Court of Appeals’ judgment and remand the case with direction to consider Ashley’s other challenges to his convictions.

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