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  1. #6
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    Default Re: Harmless Error vs Reversible Error

    You're being deliberately opaque about the facts, but we can piece things together from your prior threads. After you were by all appearances served, apparently while in a different state (Hawaii), with a TRO obtained by your spouse in Washington, you called her.
    Quote Quoting TheJKH1999
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    She moved to Washington and got a TRO in Washington and claimed that the day I was served this TRO I called her and left a message to let her know about a upcoming custody hearing in Hawaii....
    After being served with the TRO, you participated by phone in a hearing where you tried to have it set aside:
    Quote Quoting TheJKH1999
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    as far as my defense I appeared by phone to the Washington hearing by phone since i was still in Hawaii, I knew that if I told them about the Hawaii order and sent it to them so they could see it and read it to know I had not violated anything they would just leave the Hawaii oreder alone and tell my ex I had done nothing wrong. I was wrong, they said they all ready knew about the Hawaii order and didnt care, they were issuing her a new one for Washington that took away all my rights since I was such a threat.
    You were charged with violating the TRO in Washington and, at trial, you objected to introduction of the Proof of Service from the person who served the TRO upon you as he wasn't available in court for you to cross-examine. Your defense in Washington was that you were not served with the order, and thus couldn't be prosecuted with its violation. An officer testified that he had heard a recording of the call, apparently that he recognized your voice from the recording, and presumably that it contained threats. The prosecutor offered as evidence of impeachment the proof of service documenting service upon you in Hawaii, and after some discussion the trial court permitted the introduction of the proof of service. You were subsequently convicted.

    On appeal the Court of Appeals held that you should have been permitted to cross-examine the process server, and thus that the introduction of the proof of service violated your Sixth Amendment rights. They nonetheless found the introduction of the proof of service to be harmless error because you had appeared (by phone) at the hearing on the TRO and would not have known of that hearing had you not been served.

    You attempted to argue on appeal that you might have learned about the Washington order and hearing by other means, such as by looking them up online, but apparently had not introduced any evidence to that effect at trial. The appellate court concluded that, as it could be reasonably inferred from the admissible facts and evidence that you had been served, the trial court's admission of the proof of service was harmless error (i.e., it found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the introduction of the evidence would not have affected the outcome of your trial.)
    Quote Quoting State v. Guloy, 104 Wn.2d 412, 705 P. 2d 1182 (1985)
    A constitutional error is harmless if the appellate court is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that any reasonable jury would have reached the same result in the absence of the error. Constitutional error is presumed to be prejudicial and the State bears the burden of proving that the error was harmless. State v. Stephens, 93 Wn.2d 186, 190-91, 607 P.2d 304 (1980).
    Is that about right?

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