Opinion ID: 2630897
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Step 3Was It Reversible Error?

Text: The final step in the Voyles analysis is to determine whether the error is reversible error. Whether an error is reversible is governed by harmless error analysis. Colston did not request the trial court to give a unanimity instruction. The ultimate test for harmlessness when a unanimity instruction was not requested is the clearly erroneous standard as articulated by the Kansas Legislature in K.S.A. 22-3414(3). Voyles, 284 Kan. 239, Syl. ¶ 3, 160 P.3d 794. `Instructions are clearly erroneous only if the reviewing court is firmly convinced that there is a real possibility the jury would have rendered a different verdict if the trial error had not occurred.' [Citation omitted.] State v. Carter, 284 Kan. 312, 324, 160 P.3d 457 (2007). In Voyles , two alleged victims claimed the defendant forced them to perform multiple acts of oral sex on the defendant over a 3-month period. The victims' statements were inconsistent with each other as to the location of the acts and the number of acts that were committed. Also, the victims' trial testimony conflicted with earlier statements they had given to the police. The testimony potentially demonstrated that 20 different acts or offenses were committed, but the defendant was charged with only 8 different crimes. 284 Kan. at 242-44, 160 P.3d 794. The substantial inconsistencies in the victims' allegations against the defendant led this court to conclude that the trial court's failure to give a unanimity instruction to the jury was clearly erroneous under the facts of the case. 284 Kan. at 255, 160 P.3d 794. Here, Colston presented a general denial defense at trial. Colston denied removing B.N.'s clothes or engaging in any of the criminal behavior on August 11 as alleged by the State. He responded to the allegations on August 12 by presenting evidence that he and B.N. did not go to his parents' house that day. Essentially, Colston's evidence amounts to the equivalent of, no I didn't in response to B.N.'s allegations. The trial was substantially a credibility contest between Colston and B.N. For the most part, B.N.'s trial testimony was consistent with her statements at Sunflower House. At trial, B.N. switched the dates of two of the offenses but this inconsistency did not involve the rape charges. B.N.'s testimony was consistent about the location of the acts and the number of times each act occurred. Significantly, the rape allegation in Count I was corroborated by Michael's eyewitness testimony that he saw Colston on top of B.N. on the bed and both of them were naked. In addition, forensic evidence of Colston's DNA in the crotch area of B.N.'s swimsuit contradicted Colston's assertion that nothing happened between them. A reasonable doubt on Count II may have been raised by the testimony of Colston, Betty, and Donna that B.N. did not come to the house to take care of the dog on August 12, but this does not undermine the overwhelming evidence that supported the verdict in Count I. Based upon the record in its entirety, we are not firmly convinced there is a real possibility the jury would have rendered a different verdict if the trial error had not occurred. Accordingly, we conclude the trial court's failure to give a unanimity instruction on the rape charge in Count I was not reversible error.