Bruce Nelson, Jr., was charged with committing forgery in the second degree and child molestation on his ten-year-old neighbor, K. D. The forgery charge was based on Nelson’s possession of counterfeit currency. A jury found him guilty of sexual battery as a lesser included offense of child molestation and forgery. Nelson appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial, contending that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction for forgery and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. For the following reasons, we affirm in part and reverse in part. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence reveals that on June 12, 2006, a visibly intoxicated Nelson let himself into K. D.’s home while her mother was at the grocery store and asked for a cigarette. K. D. told him to leave and then called her friend, M. A., and asked her to come over and watch a movie. While M. A. was en route, Nelson returned to K. D.’s house and let himself in through an unlocked door. He came over to K. D., who was sitting on a chair in the living room, held her arms, and proceeded to touch her breasts through her shirt. K. D. testified that she was unable to get up and that she was fighting to get Nelson off of her when M. A. entered the house. M. A. testified that when she walked into K. D.’s house, Nelson was “on top of K. D. . . . touching her boobs . . . and K. D. was pushing and trying to get him off of her.” According to M. A., she picked up a bat that was lying next to the front door and told Nelson to leave. Nelson got off of K. D. when he saw M. A. enter the room and then left the house. The girls locked themselves in K. D.’s house until her mother returned a short time later. By that time, a neighbor had called the police when she noticed Nelson stumbling around the neighborhood.
When Officer Julie Ann Welch of the Holly Springs Police Department responded to the call, she encountered a belligerent Nelson and noticed that he smelled strongly of alcohol. Welch then became aware that K. D. and M. A. were crying and spoke with the two girls. After that conversation, Welch placed Nelson under arrest and transported him to the Cherokee County jail. While Nelson’s personal items were being inventoried, officers recovered a counterfeit $100 bill from his wallet. According to Welch, Nelson was present when officers discovered the counterfeit bill. After the officers laughed about the bill, “because the color green was so off,” Nelson commented with a smile on his face that “the police couldn’t charge him with it because he only possessed one of them.”
