Fiek v. State

Defendant Gunther Fiek was convicted by a jury of 18 counts of child molestation and 3 counts of aggravated child molestation. He appeals following the denial of his motion for new trial. The evidence, construed to support the verdict, showed that the victims in this case were male children who were students in a tae kwon do class taught by Fiek. Fiek also babysat for some of the victims, and interacted socially with several of the victims’ families. The majority of the victims were molested during tae kwon do classes, and most of the molestations involved Fiek touching, rubbing or fondling the victims’ genitals while the victims and other children in the class were doing bending or “bridge” exercises with their eyes closed, while the victims were sitting on Fiek’s lap, or while they were alone or with several other children in an adjacent equipment room. However, several of the molestations occurred while Fiek was babysitting the victims or visiting their families for social occasions. The incidents of aggravated child molestation involved three of the victims, who testified that Fiek placed his mouth on or licked them on their penis. These incidents also occurred either in the equipment room during class or in Fiek’s home.

1. Fiek first urges that “the State’s use of massive amounts of hearsay evidence violated his constitutional right to confrontation . . . .” Specifically, Fiek argues that the trial court erred by admitting the testimony of the victims’ parents about statements their children made to them about the molestations, as well as the videotaped interviews of the victims made by law enforcement investigators. The record shows that Fiek did not object to the evidence at the time it was admitted, and that defense counsel argued at the beginning of the trial that the videotapes were “important” to Fiek’s defense to show that the children were unduly influenced. However, after the State rested, Fiek urged the court to exclude this evidence, arguing that it lacked sufficient indicia of reliability for admission under the Child Hearsay Statute, OCGA § 24-3-16.