State Of Washington v. Kareem Harris, 199 Wash. App. 137

On October 28, 2009 Kareem Harris approached co-worker Wilbur Gant and shot him at close range at least five times; Gant survived initial surgery but suffered extensive abdominal and lung injuries and later chronic complications.
Surgeons removed portions of Gant’s gastrointestinal tract (including the pylorus and cecum valves), repaired liver and other damage, and left significant abdominal and pulmonary scarring.
Over a year later (January 2011) Gant developed E. coli bacteremia and bilateral bronchopneumonia and died; the medical examiner listed pneumonia and remote gunshot wounds as causes of death.
The State amended the charge to first-degree premeditated murder (Gant died on January 10, 2011); jury convicted Harris and found he was armed with a firearm.
Harris appealed, arguing insufficient evidence that the gunshot wounds were the proximate/legal cause of Gant’s death (the jury instruction on proximate cause and counsel’s failure to object were also raised but not reached).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency—proximate cause of death	State: gunshot wounds and resulting surgeries/scar tissue directly caused conditions (aspiration, bloodstream infection) that produced fatal pneumonia	Harris: intervening causes (alcohol intoxication, aspiration unrelated to wounds, other comorbidities) broke the causal chain	Court: Evidence viewed favorably to State was sufficient — but-for and proximate causal link established; conviction affirmed
Legal causation standard (effect of Bauer)	State: intentional close‑range shooting is an act capable of directly causing harm and supports criminal liability under criminal legal-causation principles	Harris: relies on Bauer to argue legal causation is narrower and his acts did not legally cause the death given intervening events	Court: Bauer distinguished (Bauer involved negligent gun storage); here the intentional, felonious shooting was capable of causing harm and legal causation satisfied

State v. Bauer, 180 Wn.2d 929 (2014) (distinguishes criminal legal causation from tort causation; negligent, non‑felonious acts may not suffice for criminal liability)
State v. Leech, 114 Wn.2d 700 (1990) (intentional, dangerous act such as arson can be proximate cause of later death)
State v. Perez‑Cervantes, 141 Wn.2d 468 (2000) (stabbing defendant can be liable for death even if other contributing factors present)
State v. Christman, 160 Wn. App. 741 (2011) (discusses causation where defendant supplied drugs and victim died of overdose)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of evidence: whether any rational trier of fact could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt)
Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000) (constitutional requirement that jury find every element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt)