The State of Washington v. Jacob Patrick Brown, Petitioner the State of Washington v. Marshall C. Harris, Petitioner…

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court held that an erroneous accomplice liability jury instruction — permitting conviction for aiding 'a crime' rather than 'the crime' charged — is subject to harmless error analysis unless the error relieves the State of its burden to prove every element of the offense, in which case reversal is automatic; applying the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard defendant by defendant and count by count, the court affirmed convictions where each defendant acted as a principal and reversed for new trials where the jury could have convicted on the flawed accomplice theory. Jacob Brown's robbery of Lewis Brown and robbery and assault of Jelani Tackett were affirmed, while his rape and assault convictions as to Lewis Brown were reversed; all of Marshall Harris's convictions were reversed because he was at most an accomplice; and Lechaun Baker's robbery, kidnapping, and burglary convictions were affirmed while his attempted murder conviction was reversed. The Court of Appeals was affirmed in part and reversed in part. Justice Sanders, joined by Chief Justice Alexander and Justice Smith, dissented on the ground that precedent requires automatic reversal of any conviction obtained under an instruction relieving the State of its burden of proving every element, and Justice Chambers concurred in the result only, constrained by the court's recent Borrero disposition.