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Collins v. State

Defendant's conviction for the lesser offense of attempted aggravated child molestation in his first trial did not bar his retrial for aggravated child molestation.

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A Chattooga County jury found Walter Rex Collins guilty of aggravated child molestation, sexual battery, and three counts of child molestation for acts Collins perpetrated against his eight-year-old daughter; the jury acquitted him on one count of aggravated sodomy. Without challenging the sufficiency of the evidence against him, Collins appeals and claims that there was error in the indictment upon which he was tried; that his prosecution on the aggravated child molestation charge was barred by double jeopardy and was otherwise inconsistent with his acquittal on aggravated sodomy; and that the trial court erred by failing to remove a juror who was not a Chattooga County resident. Upon review of these contentions, we find them meritless and affirm Collins’ conviction. 1. Collins first contends the trial court erred in allowing the trial to proceed on an indictment a that was altered without action from the grand jury, and b which contained counts that had been severed “without judicial process.” These contentions have no merit.

During the 1996 February term, the Chattooga County Grand Jury returned a ten-count indictment against Collins, charging him with four counts of child molestation, three counts of aggravated sodomy, two counts of aggravated child molestation, and one count of aggravated sexual battery. Sometime in 1996, the State apparently chose to go to trial on only six counts of the original indictment. Four counts were abandoned, and the indictment was redacted to reflect this decision.1 The allegations in the remaining counts were unaltered, staying precisely as they had been when returned by the grand jury.2

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