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Fosselman v. State

The defendant could not show that trial result would have been different absent trial counsel's alleged deficient performance.

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Following a jury trial, James Fosselman appeals his conviction of sexual battery1 and child molestation2 , contending that 1 the trial court erred by allowing a videotape of a forensic interview to be taken into the jury room during deliberations, and 2 he received ineffective assistance of counsel. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. Construed in favor of the verdict,3 the evidence shows that J. F., a minor child, occasionally spent the night at her grandmother’s house. Fosselman, the grandmother’s companion, slept in the same house, and while the grandmother was either away or sleeping, Fosselman approached J. F. while she slept. Fosselman pulled the covers back, touched J. F.’s thighs, and fondled her vagina.

Years later, while watching a television show with her cousin about child molestation, J. F. disclosed to the cousin that she had been molested by Fosselman. The cousin encouraged J. F. to tell her mother, which J. F. ultimately did. They made an appointment with police, who interviewed J. F. and referred her to a forensic interviewer specializing in child sexual abuse cases. In a videotaped interview, J. F. again disclosed the abuse to the forensic interviewer, and police interviewed Fosselman, who admitted that he touched J. F. on the thigh because he was “curious.”

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