A jury found Paris Pickard guilty of rape, aggravated sexual battery, and four counts of child molestation for offenses committed upon his girlfriend’s two daughters and one of their friends. Pickard appeals from the judgments of conviction entered on the verdict, contending the trial court erred in finding he received effective assistance of trial counsel and in not merging two of the child molestation counts for sentencing purposes. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the judgment in part, vacate it in part, and remand the case for resentencing.1 Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict,2 it shows that Pickard lived with his girlfriend and her two daughters.3 The older daughter testified that one night around January 2000, when she was 16 years old and her mother was not home, Pickard walked back and forth past her masturbating and directing her attention to his exposed penis. Pickard then sat on the couch next to the child, inserted his fingers into her vagina, grabbed her arm and took her to another room where he forced her to have sex. As a result of this incident, the child left home and began staying with various friends and relatives. She told her mother and two friends about the incident, but nobody reported it to law enforcement.
The younger daughter testified that when she was 10 years old and her older sister moved out, Pickard began fondling himself in front of her. On numerous occasions, while the child was in the living room, Pickard masturbated in the next room with the door ajar. On one occasion, while the child was lying on the couch, Pickard put his hand on her vaginal area. On another occasion, he “messed with” the child’s breasts. Another time, Pickard placed his penis in the child’s hand.
