Court Opinion

ID: 9785418
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 21:40:45.197498+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:21.932376
License: Public Domain

Buser, J.,
concurring: I concur that the State never elected the particular criminal acts (among the many perpetrated against these two young girls) spanning a 3-month time period upon which the State relied for its convictions. This failure coupled with the district court’s omission in failing to instruct the jury regarding the need for unanimity in its verdicts was obvious error. I also agree with *121my colleagues that in this case, and in child sexual assault cases generally, Hill and its progeny essentially mandate a finding that such error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt as to all acts in those cases where there is solely a general denial by the defendant of any wrongful conduct — the so-called “credibility contest” between the alleged child victim and the defendant.
I write separately to express a concern that given this case law precedent, the caveat cited in Hill, 271 Kan. at 940, and restated in our opinion that “[t]his holding should not be interpreted to give prosecutors carte blanche to rely on harmless error review” may have become, over time, an untenable admonition.