Twiggs v. State

Trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to challenge the FBI forensic computer examiner's search of the defendant's computer, as no basis existed under O.C.G.A. § 17-5-24 for suppressing the search results.

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A jury convicted Robert Twiggs on one count each of aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery, child molestation, rape, statutory rape, and incest involving his stepdaughter. Twiggs appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion for new trial. We affirm for the reasons set forth below. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict,1 the evidence showed that Twiggs met the victim’s mother in 1998 when the girl was approximately six years old. The family lived in Valdosta until 2006 when they moved to Henry County, where the charges in this case were filed. The victim testified that Twiggs began playing games with her when she was about seven years old, games that always ended with Twiggs sticking his private part in her bottom. Twiggs told the victim not to tell anyone what he did to her because he and his family in New York were in the Mafia, and they would kill everyone in her family. The victim was 15 when the family moved to Henry County, and Twiggs began putting his private part, and sometimes his fingers, in her private part or put his private part into her mouth. This happened two to three times per week.

The victim’s mother observed Twiggs with the victim at odd hours in the morning when they lived in Henry County, and when the family was still living in Valdosta, the victim’s younger brother saw Twiggs doing something to the victim’s private area on one occasion in Valdosta, when the victim was wearing only a black tank top. Twiggs told the brother that he was checking to see if she was pregnant. Twiggs and the victim’s mother eventually split up, and when, approximately three to four months later, the victim told her mother about these events, her mother contacted the police.

Twiggs v. State

Trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to challenge the FBI forensic computer examiner's search of the defendant's computer, as no basis existed under O.C.G.A. § 17-5-24 for suppressing the search results.

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