Hughes v. the State

A jury found Marvin Hughes guilty of child molestation and statutory rape. The trial court merged the child molestation conviction into the statutory rape conviction, for which the court imposed a 20-year prison sentence. Hughes appeals from the denial of his motion for a new trial, contending that the trial court erred in admitting similar transaction evidence during his trial and that his sentence should be vacated and his case remanded for the trial court to clarify that his child molestation conviction merged into his statutory rape conviction. For the reasons that follow, we conclude…