State of Washington v. Kelli Anne Jacobsen

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided April 12, 2018·No. 33743-0·Unpublished

Opinion

FILED

APRIL 12, 2018

In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals, Division III

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE

STATE OF WASHINGTON, )

) No. 33743-0-III Respondent, )

)

v. )

)

KELLI ANNE JACOBSEN, ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION )

Appellant. )

KORSMO, J. — Kelli Anne Jacobsen appeals from her conviction for second degree manslaughter of one-year-old R.M., a child for whom she was caring. We affirm the conviction, but reverse some of the legal financial obligations (LFOs).

FACTS

Tawney Johnson, R.M.’s mother, initially hired Ms. Jacobsen to provide daycare for R.M. when she returned to work. Eventually, Ms. Jacobsen became a live-in nanny for the child. The two women communicated regularly during the work day about R.M. via text messaging.

On his first birthday, his mother noticed that R.M. was in a fussy mood. That mood carried over to the next morning and was also observed by Amy Graves, a friend of Ms. Jacobsen who frequently visited at Ms. Johnson’s home. Ms. Johnson came home

No. 33743-0-III State v. Jacobsen

later that morning to use her personal computer before returning to work shortly before noon. R.M. appeared to be happy and playful at that time.

Shortly after noon, Ms. Jacobsen called 911, reporting that R.M. was unresponsive.

An ambulance was dispatched at 12:14 p.m. A neighbor, Danielle Sundwall, arrived at the home first and asked where R.M. was. Ms. Jacobsen, who appeared motionless with a blank face, handed the child to Sundwall, who observed that R.M. was breathing hard and that his eyes had rolled back into his head. Paramedic Steve Waite arrived and took the child to the ambulance. Ms. Jacobsen sat in front with Waite while he drove the vehicle to the hospital.

Waite asked Jacobsen what had happened. When Jacobsen reported that the child had been pushing a toy and fallen over, Waite was skeptical. He asked her “what really happened.” Ms. Jacobsen replied that R.M. had stood on the toy, about six inches off the ground, and fallen from it.

Emergency room staff at Kadlec Hospital treated the child. A CT scan revealed severe bleeding in R.M.’s brain and the presence of a subdural hematoma. Ms. Jacobsen told an emergency room doctor that R.M. had fallen while climbing on a toy. The child died while undergoing emergency brain surgery.

A forensic pathologist, Dr. Daniel Selove, testified concerning autopsy results.

The autopsies revealed that R.M. had suffered two fractures of his left arm and one of his left leg. The leg and one of the arm fractures were between two and four weeks old,

No. 33743-0-III State v. Jacobsen

while the other arm fracture was two weeks old. These injuries suggested to Dr. Selove that the child may have been violently shaken.

The prosecutor filed a charge of first degree manslaughter against Ms. Jacobsen, who was represented by appointed attorney Scott Johnson. Anticipating that Ms. Jacobsen would argue that the death resulted from an accident, the State sought to admit Dr. Selove’s testimony about the prior injuries. The defense sought to exclude the evidence under ER 404(b). The court declined to exclude the evidence. The case ultimately went to trial, with the defense putting forth the theory that Ms. Johnson caused the child’s injuries. The jury deliberated for four days, but a mistrial was eventually declared because of deadlock.

The case was retried two years later. In 2014, Shane Silverthorn had replaced Mr.

Johnson as counsel for Ms. Jacobsen. By the time he stepped down, Mr. Johnson had invoiced the county in excess of $100,000 for the defense of Ms. Jacobsen. The case was retried to a jury before the original trial judge.

In opening statement, Mr. Silverthorn told jurors that R.M. had suffered medical issues over the year and that “some of the remedial measures that were used to aid in those difficulties led to fussiness and the like.” Report of Proceedings (RP) at 254. The State then sought to introduce the text messages, which had not been used in the first trial, to dispute this argument. Defense counsel stated that he wanted to “make a 404(b) record,” although that was never done. The parties were directed to review the messages

No. 33743-0-III State v. Jacobsen

together in order to cull out irrelevant messages from those that were relevant. After a recess, the parties presented a series of exhibits; the defense stipulated to the admission “in their redacted format.” RP at 647-648.

The State presented testimony from several of the health care workers who attended to R.M. They uniformly testified that, in their experience, subdural hematomas in infants did not result from a minor fall; more serious impact was required. When Mr. Waite testified that he disbelieved Ms. Jacobsen’s statement that the injury occurred from the child falling, defense counsel objected that the response constituted a comment on witness credibility. The court allowed the testimony to stand because it was a comment on the credibility of Ms. Jacobsen’s statement rather than a comment about her personal credibility. Dr. Selove testified, without objection, that R.M. had suffered a “nonaccidental injury” resulting from “what another person is doing to” him. RP at 752.

Unlike the first trial, the defense called only two witnesses to testify about their observations of Ms. Jacobsen’s emotional response to R.M.’s injury. Ms. Jacobsen did not testify at either trial. In closing argument, the State argued that Ms. Jacobsen’s story about a fall was inconsistent with the number of bruises found on the child. The defense argued that Ms. Johnson also had access to R.M. and it was impossible to determine who was responsible for the child’s injuries.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty on the included offense of second degree manslaughter and also found the presence of two aggravating factors. The court

No. 33743-0-III State v. Jacobsen

sentenced Ms. Jacobsen to an exceptional sentence of 54 months in prison and imposed a total of $121,569.95 in total LFOs. More than $115,000.00 of that figure reflected discretionary costs for court appointed attorneys and experts used in the first trial.

Ms. Jacobsen timely appealed to this court. A panel heard oral argument on the case.

ANALYSIS

This appeal presents three primary issues, although all of them involve multiple theories of error. We address first Ms. Jacobsen’s contention that her counsel provided ineffective assistance. We then turn to her contention that the trial judge erred with respect to jury instructions, a purported ER 404(b) ruling, and in improperly imposing the discretionary LFOs. Finally, we consider Ms. Jacobsen’s claim of prosecutorial misconduct. Since we do not find multiple trial errors, we do not separately address her contention of cumulative error.

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Ms. Jacobsen contends that attorney Silverthorn rendered ineffective assistance by failing to raise objections to two pieces of evidence and in failing to seek an instruction. She does not meet her heavy burden of establishing error.

The standards governing ineffective assistance of counsel claims are well understood. An attorney’s failure to perform to the standards of the profession will require a new trial when the client has been prejudiced by counsel’s failure. State v. McFarland,

No. 33743-0-III State v. Jacobsen

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