# INTHECOURTOFAPPEALSOFTHESTATEOFWASHINGTONW STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent,

v. T.H. (DOB 01/10/1996), Appellant. No. 68575-9-I DIVISION ONE
UNPUBLISHED OPINION FILED: August 5, 2013 \



### Leach, C.J.

— Fingerprint evidence is sufficient by itself to support a conviction if a rational trier offact could reasonably inferthatthe prints could only have been impressed at the time of the offense. Because the evidence inthis
case meets this standard and because T.H.'s other arguments lack merit, we 

### affirm hisjuvenile convictions for two counts ofresidential burglary. FACTS 

### In 2011, police investigating two residential burglaries in Bellevue found T.H.'s fingerprints on items inside the homes. In one home, T.H.'s prints were found on a shower curtain rod next to the window where the burglar entered. The homeowner had purchased the curtain rod within the lastyear at a Bellevue discount store. Priorto installation, the rod was encased in shrink-wrap thatwas "impossible to open." In the other home, T.H.'s prints were found on a camcorder box that the burglar had taken out of a closet. The camcorder, which was missing from its ' '-rir'No. 68575-9-1/2 

### box, had been purchased on line within the last year and had arrived at the house inpackaging. The fingerprints were the only evidence linking T.H. to the burglaries. 

### Police arrested T.H. and charged him with two counts of residential burglary. T.H. told police that he had neverbeen inBellevue. Following separate bench trials, the juvenile court found T.H. guilty as 

### charged. The court found there was no reasonable explanation for the fingerprints on the curtain rod and camcorder box other than that T.H. put them there during the burglaries. T.H. appeals. DECISION The principal issue on appeal is whetherT.H.'s convictions are supported 

### by sufficient evidence. Evidence is sufficient if, when viewed in a light most favorable to the State, it permits any rational trier of fact to find the essential 

### elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.1 A challenge to the sufficiency of evidence admits the truth of the State's evidence and all reasonable inferences fromthatevidence.2 The only evidence linking T.H. to the burglaries were his fingerprints on the shower curtain rod and camcorder box. "Fingerprint evidence alone is sufficient to support a conviction where the trier of fact could reasonably infer 

### 1 State v. Green. 94 Wn.2d 216, 221, 616 P.2d 628 (1980) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia. 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 61 L Ed. 2d 560 (1979)). 

### 2State v. Salinas. 119Wn.2d 192, 201, 829 P.2d 1068(1992).No. 68575-9-1/3


### from the circumstances that it could only have been impressed at the time the 

### crimewas committed."3 T.H. contends thejuvenilecourtcould not draw such an inference in this case because the shower curtain rod "could have been an item 

### that had been returned, repackaged and resold" and the camcorder box "was 

### recently in the stream of commerce." But the State need not disprove all 

### conceivable hypothesesconsistentwith innocence.4 Rather, itneedonlyprovide evidence sufficient for the trier of fact to reasonably infer that the fingerprinted 

### items were "generally inaccessible" to the defendant prior to the crimes and that 

### thefingerprints were impressed only at thetime of thecrime.5 The evidence in this case was sufficientto support such inferences inboth burglaries. As discussed above, the camcorderwas purchased on line and sentto the 

### victim's house inpackaging. The showercurtain rodwas purchased at a store in 

### Bellevue a yearbeforethe burglary and was wrapped in plastic shrink-wrap when purchased. T.H. told police he had never been to Bellevue. Viewed in a light most favorable to the State, this evidence supports inferences that the 

### fingerprinted items were "generally inaccessible" to T.H. prior to the burglaries and that T.H.'s fingerprints could only have been impressed during the burglaries. Those inferences in turn support the juvenile court's conclusion, beyond a reasonable doubt, thatT.H. committed the burglaries. 

### 3State v. Lucca. 56Wn. App. 597, 599, 784 P.2d 572(1990). 4State v.Bridge. 91 Wn.App. 98, 100, 955 P.2d 418 (1998). 5 Bridge. 91 Wn. App. at 100.No. 68575-9-1/4 

### T.H. contends State v. Bridge6 requires a contrary conclusion. Bridge is distinguishable. Bridge'sfingerprintwas found on a price tag affixed to a tool that had recently been purchased "inan area open to the public." The tool was thus accessible to Bridge before the burglary, and the evidence was therefore insufficient to reasonably infer that his fingerprint could only have been 

### impressed at the time of the crime.7 The facts in this case, by contrast, supported reasonable inferences that the objects bearing T.H.'s fingerprints were not generally accessible prior to the burglaries and that his fingerprints could only have been impressed on the objects atthe time ofthe crimes. For the first time on appeal, T.H. contends the court erred when ittook judicial notice, without notice and an opportunity to be heard, that "online purchases are not through publicly accessible retail outlets in the same way as presumably occurred in the Bridge case." Assuming, without deciding, that T.H.
can raise this issue for the first time on appeal, we conclude there was no error. The juvenile court clarified that the fact it judicially noticed was really just a reasonable inference from the evidence. We agree. On the evidence presented, itwas reasonable for the courtto inferthat the camcorder purchased on line was not publicly accessible "inthe same way" as the tool in Bridge.



### 691 Wn. App. 98, 955 P.2d 418 (1998). 7Bridge. 91 Wn. App. at 101.No. 68575-9-1 / 5


### T.H. also assigns error to various findings but does not support the 

### assignmentswith argument. Thefindings are thereforeverities onappeal.8 Affirmed.

WE CONCUR: 

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8State v. Moreno, 173Wn. App. 479, 491, 294P.3d 812(2013), review denied. No. 88588-5 (Wash. July 10, 2013).