On November 23, 1999, William Jackson Gilbert entered a negotiated guilty plea to three counts of sexual exploitation of children1 , four counts of child molestation2 , and two counts of aggravated child molestation3 upon a 57 count indictment. After accepting the plea as providently entered, the Houston County Superior Court sentenced the defendant to sixty years confinement, to serve forty upon the State attorney’s recommendation under the plea agreement. A post-sentencing hearing was held on November 30, 1999, after the sentence had been imposed, to determine whether the superior court should reduce the sentence, and it is to issues arising out of this hearing that defendant addresses his claims of error in attacking the sentence entered on November 23, 1999 in the case sub judice.
In three related enumerations of error arising out of the November 30 hearing, defendant contends that the superior court erred in admitting photographs of his female victims, ages ten and eight, respectively—this for seizure following an unlawful search, a confession taken upon an illegal arrest outside defendant’s home, and upon improper offer of hope or benefit under OCGA § 24-3-50.4 Defendant otherwise contends that the Superior Court erred at its November 30 hearing a by admitting victim impact statements provided by the victims’ fathers under OCGA § 17-10-1.2, b by denying his motion to recuse the State’s attorney for publicity before the November 30 hearing as in violation of DR 7-107 of the Rules and Regulations of the State Bar of Georgia, c by admitting similar transaction evidence in the absence of notice, violating OCGA § 17-10-2 a, d by imposing sentence before conducting a presentence hearing under OCGA § 17-10-2, and e by imposing a disproportionately severe sentence.
