Opinion
No. A14A0742.
12-09-2015
WATSON v. The STATE.
Noah Howard Pines, Atlanta, for Appellant. Andrew J. Ekonomou, Atlanta, Katie Marie Gropper, Jacquelyn Lee Johnson, for Appellee.
Noah Howard Pines, Atlanta, for Appellant.
Andrew J. Ekonomou, Atlanta, Katie Marie Gropper, Jacquelyn Lee Johnson, for Appellee.
Opinion
McFADDEN, Judge.
Patrick Watson was convicted on two counts of sexual battery against his minor daughter and one count of child molestation against another victim. In our opinion in Watson v. State, 329 Ga.App. 334, 765 S.E.2d 24 (2014), we affirmed his convictions. In so doing, in Division 3(b) of our opinion we rejected Watson's argument that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that “under Georgia law a person under the age of sixteen lacks legal capacity to consent to sexual conduct.” Id. at 338–340(3)(b), 765 S.E.2d 24. In Watson v. State, 297 Ga. 718, 777 S.E.2d 677 (2015), the Supreme Court of Georgia reversed the judgment below on the sexual battery convictions, “hold[ing] that this particular instruction is improper when given in relation to the offense of sexual battery.” Id. at 718, 777 S.E.2d 677. The Supreme Court noted that Watson's conviction on child molestation was not at issue on certiorari and did not address any of the other grounds upon which Watson had challenged his convictions.
We therefore vacate Division 3(b) of our opinion in Watson v. State, supra, 329 Ga.App. 334, 765 S.E.2d 24, which addressed the propriety of the jury instruction described above, and in place of Division 3(b) we adopt as our own the Supreme Court's opinion in Watson v. State, supra, 329 Ga.App. 334, 765 S.E.2d 24. Because the Supreme Court neither addressed nor considered the other portions of our earlier opinion, and those other portions are not inconsistent with the Supreme Court's own opinion, those other portions “become binding upon the return of the remittitur.” Shadix v. Carroll County, 274 Ga. 560, 563(1), 554 S.E.2d 465 (2001).
Accordingly, the conviction for child molestation is affirmed and the convictions for sexual battery are reversed.
Judgment affirmed in part and reversed in part.
ANDREWS, P.J., and RAY, J., concur.