The Murray County jury of 8 men and 4 women found Sherwood guilty after 30 minutes of deliberation before Senior Judge Larry Salmon, according to District Attorney Bert Poston's office.
Wednesday, a Dalton woman was convicted for multiple counts related to child molestation.
Linda Sherwood, 46, was convicted by a Murray County jury of two counts of child molestation, one count of aggravated sexual battery, and one count of aggravated child molestation.
The Murray County jury of 8 men and 4 women found Sherwood guilty after 30 minutes of deliberation before Senior Judge Larry Salmon, according to District Attorney Bert Poston's office. Assistant District Attorney Ben Kenemer, assisted by Special Agent Eric White of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, presented a total of six witnesses and presented one exhibit: the victim's Greenhouse interview video. Numerous witnesses from the Greenhouse child advocacy center testified concerning their investigation into the allegations presented to them by Agent White.
Kenemer singled out the testimony of a therapist from the Greenhouse as being instrumental in the jury reaching their verdict. "Certainly one of the greatest challenges that we face in presenting child abuse cases is having people relate to and understand a young person who has suffered severe trauma from being sexually abused. The Greenhouse counselor in this case assisted the jury in understanding how this specific child processed the trauma she suffered and how that came out in the Greenhouse interview that was played for the jury."
Judge Salmon set sentencing for August 25. A pre-sentence investigation was ordered to be completed by the Department of Community Supervision (formerly known as State Probation). Sherwood was in custody before trial since her arrest on July 1, 2019, and will remain in custody until sentencing. She faces up to life in prison on the two aggravated counts and up to twenty years on each on the child molestation counts.
