Odis David Ayers was charged with the following counts against eight different victims: two counts of kidnapping; two counts of aggravated child molestation; two counts of aggravated sodomy; eight counts of child molestation; two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes; six counts of false imprisonment; and one count of furnishing harmful material to a minor. Following a trial, the jury found Ayers guilty of the following counts against four of the victims: two counts of kidnapping; three counts of child molestation; two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes; and two counts of false imprisonment. The jury found him not guilty of the remaining 14 charges. On appeal, Ayers challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and alleges that the trial court erred by refusing to allow both defense attorneys to present closing argument, in failing to permit certain witnesses to testify, by admitting certain evidence, and in charging the jury. He further contends that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Although we find the evidence sufficient, we agree with Ayers that the trial court erred in denying his request to have two attorneys present closing argument on his behalf and reverse.1 1. In reviewing Ayers’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we construe the evidence and all inferences drawn therefrom in a light most favorable to the verdict to determine if a rational trier of fact could have found Ayers guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.2 So viewed, the evidence shows that Ayers was married and had two sons and four foster children. Ayers also coached a baseball team and was a Cub Scout leader.
M.S., who was nine years old at the time of trial, played on a baseball team that Ayers coached. On one occasion, Ayers played a “tickling game” with M.S. while in Ayers’ bedroom. According to M.S., Ayers wrapped a rope around him and tickled him, “mostly under his arms.” Ayers’s sons were in the room at the time of the incident. At one point, Ayers put M.S., who was still tied up, in the closet when Ayers heard his wife, Sharon, approaching; when Ayers took M.S. out of the closet a few seconds later, Sharon was gone.
