Opinion ID: 1162550
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: HARMLESS ERROR: State v. Kitchen and State v. Albert Coburn

Text: In Washington, a defendant may be convicted only when a unanimous jury concludes that the criminal act charged in the information has been committed. State v. Stephens, 93 Wn.2d 186, 190, 607 P.2d 304 (1980). When the prosecution presents evidence of several acts that could form the basis of one count charged, either the State must tell the jury which act to rely on in its deliberations or the court must instruct the jury to agree on a specific criminal act. State v. Petrich, 101 Wn.2d 566, 570, 572, 683 P.2d 173 (1984); State v. Workman, 66 Wash. 292, 294-95, 119 P. 751 (1911). No party disputes that failure to follow one of these options is error, violative of a defendant's state constitutional right to a unanimous jury verdict and United States constitutional right to a jury trial. State v. Badda, 63 Wn.2d 176, 182, 385 P.2d 859 (1963); Const. art. 1, § 22 (amend. 10); U.S. Const. amend. 6. The central issue is under what circumstances that error is harmless. The harmless error rule preserves an accused's right to a fair trial without sacrificing judicial economy in the inevitable presence of immaterial error. Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 89 L.Ed.2d 674, 684-85, 106 S.Ct. 1431 (1986). See Comment, The Harmless Constitutional Error Rule in Washington: What It Was, What It Is, and What It Should Be, 20 Gonz. L. Rev. 429, 470 (1984-85). Neither the United States Supreme Court nor this court will forsake a defendant's fundamental right to a fair trial when constitutional error is prejudicial. Rose v. Clark, 478 U.S. 570, 92 L.Ed.2d 460, 470, 106 S.Ct. 3101 (1986); State v. Guloy, 104 Wn.2d 412, 426, 705 P.2d 1182 (1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1020 (1986). In general, when trial error abridges a right guaranteed to the defendant by the United States Constitution, the jury verdict will be affirmed only if that error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 17 L.Ed.2d 705, 87 S.Ct. 824, 24 A.L.R.3d 1065 (1967). Given the confusion that has surrounded the harmless error test applicable to multiple acts cases, and the distinction between such cases and alternative means cases, we take the opportunity here to clarify the correct standards of review. [1] We first addressed the harmless error analysis applicable to a multiple acts case in State v. Stephens, supra . In Stephens, the State charged the defendant with one count of assault against two victims conjunctively, but the court instructed the jury using the victims' names disjunctively. We reversed because, given the different actions directed by the defendant toward each victim, reasonable jury members could have disagreed as to whether the defendant assaulted both victims. Stephens, 93 Wn.2d at 190-91. The issue of whether error is harmless when one crime is charged and multiple acts are attested to next arose in State v. Petrich, supra . In Petrich the victim testified to several acts of indecent liberties and statutory rape, but the information charged and defendant was convicted of only one count of indecent liberties and one count of statutory rape. We overturned the conviction, finding that the error was prejudicial. In doing so, however, we inadvertently employed the standard applicable to alternative means cases rather than the standard for multiple acts cases. Thus we inappropriately cited State v. Franco, 96 Wn.2d 816, 639 P.2d 1320 (1982), an alternative means case, for the harmless error standard even while stating elsewhere in the opinion that alternative means cases are not analogous to multiple acts cases when determining whether constitutional error occurred. Petrich, 101 Wn.2d at 570. In an alternative means case, where a single offense may be committed in more than one way, there must be jury unanimity as to guilt for the single crime charged. Unanimity is not required, however, as to the means by which the crime was committed so long as substantial evidence supports each alternative means. State v. Whitney, 108 Wn.2d 506, 739 P.2d 1150 (1987); State v. Franco, supra ; State v. Arndt, 87 Wn.2d 374, 553 P.2d 1328 (1976). In reviewing an alternative means case, the court must determine whether a rational trier of fact could have found each means of committing the crime proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Franco, at 823, citing State v. Green, 94 Wn.2d 216, 221, 616 P.2d 628 (1980). In multiple acts cases, on the other hand, several acts are alleged and any one of them could constitute the crime charged. In these cases, the jury must be unanimous as to which act or incident constitutes the crime. To ensure jury unanimity in multiple acts cases, we require that either the State elect the particular criminal act upon which it will rely for conviction, or that the trial court instruct the jury that all of them must agree that the same underlying criminal act has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Petrich, at 572; Gitchel, at 822. When the State fails to make a proper election and the trial court fails to instruct the jury on unanimity, there is constitutional error. The error stems from the possibility that some jurors may have relied on one act or incident and some another, resulting in a lack of unanimity on all of the elements necessary for a valid conviction. This error occurred in each of the cases consolidated herein. In reviewing a multiple acts case in which there has been no election by the State or unanimity instruction by the trial court, the proper standard for determining whether the error is harmless is properly stated by Judge Scholfield in his concurrence in Loehner : the error is not harmless if a rational trier of fact could have a reasonable doubt as to whether each incident established the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Loehner, 42 Wn. App. at 411 (Scholfield, A.C.J., concurring); see also State v. Handyside, 42 Wn. App. 412, 416, 711 P.2d 379 (1985). This approach presumes that the error was prejudicial and allows for the presumption to be overcome only if no rational juror could have a reasonable doubt as to any one of the incidents alleged. See State v. Burri, 87 Wn.2d 175, 181, 550 P.2d 507 (1976); see also Pope v. Illinois, ___ U.S. ___, 95 L.Ed.2d 439, 107 S.Ct. 1918 (1987). This standard best ensures that when constitutional error occurs, a conviction will not be upheld unless the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, Chapman v. California, supra at 24. Applying the above test to the cases at bench, we affirm the Court of Appeals decision to reverse and remand State v. Kitchen, supra , and we reverse and remand Mr. Coburn's conviction. In both Mr. Coburn's and Mr. Kitchen's trials the prosecution placed testimony and circumstantial proof of multiple acts in evidence. There was conflicting testimony as to each of those acts and a rational juror could have entertained reasonable doubt as to whether one or more of them actually occurred. For example, some jurors may have based their verdict in State v. Albert Coburn on the testimony of the complaining witness in count 1 that Mr. Coburn touched her and attempted to touch her cousin when they were in the woods, while others may have based their decision on incidents that allegedly took place in the bedroom. Some jurors may have believed that Mr. Coburn touched the complaining witness in count 3 on the night she became upset while others determined that she was upset that night for other reasons, relying upon another act as basis for their verdict. Similarly, a reasonable juror could have doubted the Kitchen complaining witness' testimony that incidents occurred in a shower and believed that only those acts before school in the trailer actually occurred. Faced with these trial records, we cannot say that failure to ensure that Mr. Coburn and Mr. Kitchen were afforded a unanimous jury verdict was harmless error. Their convictions are therefore reversed.