A Flowery Branch man will remain in prison for an aggravated child molestation conviction involving his teenage daughter, but the Georgia Supreme Court feels state lawmakers may need to review the law as it now stands.
In August 2016, Lawrence Anthony Daddario was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years for ongoing sexual assaults on his 14-year-old daughter who became pregnant and gave birth when she was 15. Court testimony called the childbirth "very painful and potentially life-threatening."
Attorneys for Daddario argued earlier this year that traumatic childbirth does not constitute the "physical injury" Georgia statutory law requires for the crime of aggravated child molestation.
While the court upheld Daddario's conviction and life sentence, the justices wrote as part of the opinion that the Georgia General Assembly might want to review the current child molestation statute as it is written.
Justice Michael P. Boggs wrote the opinion and said that Daddario had asked "this Court to hold that evidence related to a resulting pregnancy or childbirth is never legally sufficient under Georgia law to support a jury finding that an act of child molestation caused physical injury to the child." He also wrote that "the State asks us to hold that evidence of a pregnancy or childbirth alone is always sufficient to support such a standing."
Boggs said in Daddario's specific case, the more serious charge of aggravated child molestation was warranted, but he cautioned other cases involving pregnancy and childbirth might not warrant the same charge.
"We do not hold that evidence of childbirth or a pregnancy alone is always sufficient to support a jury finding that an act of child molestation proximately caused physical injury to the child as required to sustain a conviction for aggravated child molestation," the opinion stated.
In a special concurrence, Justice Keith R. Blackwell wrote that he agreed with the Court’s judgment, but wanted to note that the decision could have a "troubling consequence" that the General Assembly "likely never intended."
Blackwell explained his reasoning.
"No one will lose much sleep over the prospect that someone like the appellant in this case – a sexually predatory father who repeatedly had sexual intercourse with his teenaged daughter – might spend the rest of his natural life in prison. But understanding the statute as we do today, a 16-year-old high school sophomore who has intercourse – without any force or other coercion – with his 15-year-old girlfriend and causes her to become pregnant and experience childbirth also would face the prospect of imprisonment for life."
Blackwell also said unlike other sex offenses, the General Assembly has made no provision for more lenient treatment of teenagers in cases of aggravated child molestation that are based on physical injury.
Justice Sarah H. Warren also wrote a special concurrence to point out that Thursday's opinion "does not answer – because it need not answer in this particular case – whether evidence of pregnancy alone" can constitute physical injury and "can thus serve as a predicate for aggravated child molestation" under Georgia Code § 16-6-4. Warren suggested the Georgia General Assembly amend the code as it is currently written.
