The Kansas Court of Appeals today upheld the conviction of Charles D. Bowser, 22, who was convicted of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and criminal possession of a firearm stemming from an incident in January 2015.
According to court documents, Bowser appealed, arguing that evidence was insufficient for his conviction for aggravated burglary, the Wyandotte County District Court erred in instructing the jury, the state committed prosecutorial error and that with cumulative errors he was deprived of a fair trial.
The appeals court stated today that while the district court may have erred in saying the state was required to prove Bowser knowingly committed aggravated burglary, the court would have to be firmly convinced that the jury would have reached a different verdict had the instruction been correct.
Today the appeals court stated it found no question about the reliability of a witness’s identification. “As a result, the district court did not err in failing to give an eyewitness identification instruction with respect to identification of Bowser,” the court stated.
The appeals court said the “prosecutor’s statements did not fall outside the wide latitude afforded to prosecutors in closing arguments and thus did not constitute error.”
Today, the appeals court ruled that the “district court erred by instructing the jury on the requisite culpable mental state for the crime of aggravated burglary. A single error, however, cannot constitute cumulative error.” The district court’s ruling was affirmed.