Court Opinion

ID: 9540242
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:14:00.591683+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:46.205792
License: Public Domain

Deen, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially.
This case involves a father, his foster daughter, and several children ranging in age from seven to eleven. The children, individually and collectively, would be invited to the mobile home of the father, *808sometimes to spend the night and at other times for brief visits. When spending the night and on other occasions, the children would be provided with beer, vodka, cigarettes, and both soft-core and hardcore pornographic magazines (approximately 200 pages contained in the record), made available seemingly as a pattern, or a type of “pied piper,” for procurement and for encouragement to promiscuous sexual activity.
The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled, under the variable obscenity doctrine, that what is not necessarily obscene to adults may constitute obscenity to juveniles. Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629 (88 SC 1274, 20 LE2d 195) (1968). In the instant case various sexual games were played, consisting of a variety of erotic acts, including intercourse, often in the presence of other children. The children were encouraged to act out and affirm this activity because “it feels good.” One of the older girls contended that at one time she had become pregnant and, moreover, that she had consented to engaging in some of the acts. Taken together, the crude and unnatural acts constituted a veritable modus operandi for the demeaning and seducing of children. The evidence indicated that the children were encouraged to peruse the “nasty” and “dirty” magazines and pictures.
When the evidence is construed in favor of upholding the jury verdict, it would seem reasonable to conclude that the acts constituted both mental and physical child abuse, and that the evidence sustains at the very least the convictions of child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes. Counsel for appellant nevertheless makes a strong argument that the “enticing a child for indecent purposes” counts violate the “overbreadth” doctrine, that men and women of common intelligence would necessarily have to guess at the meaning, and that the statute would therefore be constitutionally invalid for vagueness. Our Supreme Court has addressed this point seemingly adversely to appellant in McCord v. State, 248 Ga. 765 (285 SE2d 724) (1982). That case focuses only on OCGA § 16-6-4, in which wording of further specificity is included: “to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires”; that language is absent from the instant case as well as from OCGA § 16-6-5. As pointed out in Sabel v. State, 250 Ga. 640 (300 SE2d 663) (1983), words must be given their ordinary meaning. Not all foreseeable reasonably included prohibited acts can be listed in every statute. Therefore, although it is a close question, it is reasonable to equate “indecent” with “immoral” or “illegal”; under Sabel, this would be sufficiently definite to inform a person of common intelligence as to when he is violating the law.
Another important point, advanced and well argued by learned counsel for appellant, was that certain testimony was inadmissible; namely, that the father informed the Irwin family that they would *809have to move because their four daughters did not show him enough affection, did not like him enough, and would not come to see him in his trailer every day after school. There is no question that this was devastatingly prejudicial; yet, as pointed out in the majority opinion, it was admissible to show bent of mind. Dudley v. State, 141 Ga. App. 431, 432 (2) (233 SE2d 805) (1977). We must respectfully affirm.