Chaney v. State

355 Ga.App. 737

845 S.E.2d 704

CHANEY

v.The STATE.

A20A0287

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

June 23, 2020

Ian Nathaniel Bucy, for Appellant.

Bradfield N. Shealy, District Attorney, Michelle T. Harrison, Zachary L. Register, Michelle W. Johnson, Assistant District Attorneys, for appellee.

Hodges, Judge.

Following a jury trial, the Superior Court of Colquitt County entered a judgment of conviction against Amanda Chaney for one count each of aggravated assault ( OCGA § 16-5-21 ), aggravated battery ( OCGA § 16-5-24 ), and cruelty to children in the first degree ( OCGA § 16-5-70 ). Chaney appeals from the trial court's denial of her motion for new trial as amended, arguing that the trial court erred in imposing a special condition of probation that Chaney "shall have no contact of any kind, in person, or by telephone, mail, or otherwise, with ANY CHILD UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS OF AGE." (Emphasis in original.) Because we conclude the trial court imposed an overly broad special condition that is not authorized under Georgia law, we vacate Special Condition of Probation 12 and remand this case for resentencing in a manner consistent with this opinion.

Viewed in a light most favorable to the jury's verdict,¹ evidence adduced at trial revealed that Chaney, along with her husband, inflicted severe punishment on her three-year-old stepson by burning him with what appeared to be an iron, taping his mouth shut, and keeping him locked in a room. A babysitter discovered the injuries and called 911. The boy was transported to the hospital, where doctors discovered burns across his abdomen, pelvic area, and back; multiple bruises on his head and face; and a deep abrasion on his scalp.

A Colquitt County grand jury indicted Chaney for one count each of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and cruelty to children in the first degree. Chaney's trial was moved from Colquitt County to Thomas County, and a Thomas County jury returned verdicts of guilty against Chaney on each count. The trial court initially sentenced Chaney to three consecutive terms of twenty years in prison. Approximately two months later, the trial court resentenced Chaney by modifying the sentence on Count 3 (cruelty to children) from twenty years in prison to twenty years on probation, consecutive to Counts 1 and 2 (for an aggregate term of 40 years in prison). The trial court resentenced Chaney a second time by merging Count 1 (aggravated assault) into Count 2 (aggravated battery), resulting in a sentence of 20 years in prison followed by a 20-year term of probation.

As part of its 20-year sentence on Count 3, the trial court included Special Condition of Probation 12, providing that Chaney "shall have no contact of any kind, in person, or by telephone, mail, or otherwise, with ANY CHILD UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS OF AGE."² After the first resentencing, Chaney filed a "motion for reconsideration of special conditions of probation" to challenge the ban on contact with children since she had three minor biological children. She later amended her motion for new trial to include her arguments concerning the special condition. The trial court denied Chaney's motion as amended, and this appeal followed.³

In her sole enumeration of error, Chaney contends that the "no contact" condition: (1) is not stated with reasonable specificity to notify Chaney of the groups and locations she should avoid; (2) is so broadly worded that it includes groups and locations "not rationally related to the purpose of the sentencing objective"; and (3) effectively terminates her parental rights. In part, we agree.

It is well settled that

[a] trial court has broad discretion in sentencing to impose conditions reasonably related to the nature and circumstances of the offense and the rehabilitative goals of probation. But such conditions must be stated with reasonable specificity to afford the probationer notice of the groups and places he must avoid. And the conditions must not be so broadly worded as to encompass groups and places not rationally related to the purpose of the sentencing objective.

(Citation and punctuation omitted.) Grovenstein v. State , 282 Ga. App. 109, 111 (1), 637 S.E.2d 821 (2006) ; see also Ellis v. State , 221 Ga. App. 103, 103-104 (1), 470 S.E.2d 495 (1996).

(a) Overbroad Special Conditions. We have rejected as overbroad special conditions that do not provide sufficient notice to probationers of the groups and places that must be avoided. See, e.g., Tyler v. State , 279 Ga. App. 809, 817-818 (4), 632 S.E.2d 716 (2006), disapproved in part on other grounds, Schofield v. Holsey , 281 Ga. 809, 811-812 (II), n. 1, 642 S.E.2d 56 (2007) ; Ellis , 221 Ga. App. at 103-104 (1), 470 S.E.2d 495. In Tyler , we approved of a special condition of probation stating that the defendant "shall not initiate contact with nor continue uninitiated contact with a child under the age of 18." 279 Ga. App. at 817 (4), 632 S.E.2d 716. However, we found that another condition stating that the defendant "shall not be in the presence of a child under the age of 18 without the immediate presence of the supervisor who has been approved by the treatment provider and probation officer" was improper because the condition "could be literally applied to prohibit [the defendant] from shopping at virtually any store without an approved supervisor accompanying him." (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Id. at 817-818 (4), 632 S.E.2d 716. Furthermore, we concluded that "(t)he condition( ), as written, (is) susceptible of being read and applied in ways which are not reasonably related to the sentencing objectives." (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Id. at 818 (4), 632 S.E.2d 716.

Similarly, in Ellis , the trial court imposed special conditions that the defendant

shall not linger, loiter, or spend time at locations where children under 18 are present or are likely to be present. Such locations include but are not limited to schools, parks, playgrounds, sporting events, school bus stops, public swimming pools, and arcades

and

shall not work or volunteer for any business, organization, or activity that provides care to or services for children under the age of 18. Such businesses, organizations, and activities include but are not limited to schools (including driving a school bus), coaching sports/athletic teams, Girl or Boy Scouts, day care centers, Girls or Boys clubs, or churches.

(Punctuation omitted.) 221 Ga. App. at 103-104 (1), 470 S.E.2d 495. We recognized that "it was reasonable for the trial court to regulate Ellis's contact with children by imposing conditions prohibiting his association with groups dealing with children and prohibiting his presence at certain locations where children are present." Id. at 104 (1), 470 S.E.2d 495. However, we determined that the conditions imposed by the trial court lacked the required specificity to provide "notice of the groups and locations he must avoid" and to ensure that "the conditions are not so broadly worded as to encompass groups and locations not rationally related to the purpose of the sentencing objective." As a result, we held that "[t]he conditions, as written, are susceptible of being read and applied in ways which are not reasonably related to the sentencing objectives." Id. ; see also Harrell v. State , 253 Ga. App. 440, 441 (1), 559 S.E.2d 155 (2002).

(b) Appropriate Special Conditions. In contrast, we have approved of certain special conditions of probation limiting contact with an individual or a particular cohort as long as the condition is reasonably tailored. See, e.g., Potts v. State , 207 Ga. App. 863, 866 (3), 429 S.E.2d 526 (1993). In Potts , a child molestation case, we found no abuse of discretion where the trial court imposed a special condition of probation "prohibiting the defendant's contact with any child under the age of 16" because "the trial court only limited the defendant from having contact with children under 16 years of age in volunteer activities and seeking employment which requires regular contact with children under 16." Id. ; see also Jones v. State , 348 Ga. App. 653, 656 (3) (b), 824 S.E.2d 575 (2019) (approving special condition that defendant have "no contact with the victim or his biological child" in a child molestation case); Moody v. State , 250 Ga. App. 380, 381, 551 S.E.2d 772 (2001) (finding that a condition "preventing the defendant from committing further batteries of his wife" was "no broader than required to establish the goal of protecting the victim from further criminal conduct" because "[t]he trial court made arrangements for [the defendant] to visit his teenage children and also permitted him to communicate with his wife in writing and by telephone"); Mathews v. State , 234 Ga. App. 111, 506 S.E.2d 225 (1998) (in rape case, approving special condtion that defendant "not have any contact with S. V., although arrangements were made for him to have supervised visits with his children" where S. V. was the victim and the defendant's common law wife); Hardman v. Hardman , 185 Ga. App. 519, 521 (5), 364 S.E.2d 645 (1988) (finding no abuse of discretion in special condition that the defendant "have no unsupervised contact with females under the age of 14; and that [defendant's] visitation with his granddaughter be approved by the Department of Family & Children Services" because defendant's crime of child molestation "involved young girls; and that his granddaughter was involved in these matters").

(c) Analysis. In this case, the special condition of probation imposed by the trial court contains no such limitations.⁴ First, the condition that Chaney "shall have no contact of any kind, in person, or by telephone, mail, or otherwise, with ANY CHILD UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS OF AGE" fails to provide Chaney "notice of the groups and locations [s]he must avoid." Ellis , 221 Ga. App. at 104 (1), 470 S.E.2d 495 ; see also Grovenstein , 282 Ga. App. at 111 (1), 637 S.E.2d 821. To the...