A Bartow County jury found Danny Mauldin guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of five counts of child molestation, OCGA § 16-6-4. On appeal from the denial of his motion for new trial, Mauldin contends that the trial court erred in admitting similar transaction and other evidence, in excluding certain evidence, in denying his motions for a mistrial, and in instructing the jury. He also asserts that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions. For the reasons explained below, we affirm. Viewed in favor of the jury’s verdict,1 the record shows the following facts. In 2001, 53-year-old Danny Mauldin was the choir director at the 14-year-old victim’s church. The victim often ate dinner and spent the night with Mauldin and his wife at their home, and they attended church together. In the spring or early summer of 2001, however, the Mauldins separated, and Mrs. Mauldin moved out of their home. That summer, Mauldin decided to move, also, and he repeatedly asked the victim, and sometimes her 13-year-old sister, to come to his house so they could help him pack up his belongings. On several occasions, the victim spent the night alone with Mauldin at his house. According to the victim, at some point that summer, Mauldin kissed her on the mouth. Over the next few weeks, Mauldin progressed from kissing her to fondling her breasts and genitals, exposing himself, placing her hand on his penis, and, eventually, having sexual intercourse with her. Mauldin told the victim that he loved her, that their conduct was okay because she would be 18 years old soon, and that she should not tell anyone else because it was none of their business. These encounters usually happened while the victim and Mauldin were alone at his house, but both the victim and her sister testified that, on one occasion, the sister walked into Mauldin’s bedroom and saw him and the victim lying close together in bed under a blanket. Although Mauldin never molested the victim’s sister, he asked her one time, while they were alone at his house, to “sleep” with him. After the sister refused, Mauldin made no further advances toward her.
In August 2001, Mauldin started dating a woman that he met at church. Shortly thereafter, he stopped inviting the victim and her sister to his home, and the molestation of the victim stopped. Over the next two months, the victim told her aunt and her church’s pastor about the molestation. Her aunt told the victim’s mother, who talked to the victim and then reported the molestation to the Department of Family and Children Services “DFCS”; DFCS notified the police.
