A woman serving a life sentence for helping a Cobb County man rape her 7-year-old niece for money could be granted a new trial, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled.
Rebecca Wiggins was convicted in 2011 of sexual exploitation of a child, aggravated sodomy, child molestation and first-degree child cruelty. Wiggins, 37 at the time of the trial, was sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison following her conviction.
Wiggins had custody of her niece in 2004 while the girl’s mother was in jail, according to prosecutors. That niece testified that Wiggins repeatedly took her to the home of David Ray, a Cobb County man who paid the woman for allowing him to have to sex with the girl.
According to court testimony, Wiggins would bathe the child in Ray’s home and then hold her hand as he molested her. Wiggins told her niece that they would not have food or a place to live if she did not obey, a therapist testified. Ray killed himself in his backyard in 2009 after police executed a search warrant at his home.
Wiggins was previously denied a new trial, but claimed in her appeal that there was insufficient evidence against her. An appellate panel agreed with Wiggins in a Nov. 18 ruling, telling the trial court to reconsider the motion for a new trial.
Wiggins is currently in Pulaski State Prison in Hawkinsville, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
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