The State of Washington, Petitioner v. James A. Kitchen, Respondent. in the Matter of the Personal Restraint of…

Summary

Consolidating three matters, the Washington Supreme Court clarified the harmless error standard for 'multiple acts' prosecutions in which the State failed to elect the act it relied upon and the trial court gave no unanimity instruction: the error is harmless only if no rational trier of fact could have entertained a reasonable doubt that each incident established the crime beyond a reasonable doubt, correcting State v. Petrich's inadvertent borrowing of the alternative-means standard. Applying that standard, the court affirmed the Court of Appeals' reversal of James Kitchen's statutory rape conviction and reversed and remanded Albert Coburn's indecent liberties convictions, because conflicting and impeached testimony permitted a rational juror to doubt specific incidents. Samuel Childress's personal restraint petition was denied because unanimity error is not harmful per se and he failed to show it was more likely than not that the error actually and substantially prejudiced his right to a fair trial.