GRANITE FALLS — Over two years after a baby girl’s death by accidental gunshot, prosecutors have charged both of her parents with manslaughter.
Jesse Kitson, 32, and Arabella Watts, 26, were both charged with first-degree manslaughter and unsafe storage of a firearm in Snohomish County Superior Court in January. Watts was also charged with unlawful firearm possession.
The baby’s autopsy revealed Naleyna Rhonda Jean Kitson suffered a “fatal through-and-through gunshot wound,” according to charging papers.
Court records suggest Watts did not have an attorney assigned as of Friday. Kitson’s defense attorney Natalie Tarantino declined to comment on the case.
The two defendants provided investigators with differing accounts of how their child was shot.
On the morning of Dec. 4, 2021, Watts brought her son, age 2, and daughter, 11 months, to Kitson’s mobile home in Granite Falls where he lived with a roommate in the 8600 block of Highway 92, the charges say. Watts took the kids grocery shopping and came back later in the afternoon.
Kitson was reportedly making dinner when he placed his holstered Remington 1858 .44-caliber black powder revolver on the coffee table. He carried the gun for protection from “tweakers” in the neighborhood, Watts told detectives.
Kitson believed the revolver had a five-round capacity but “normally kept the hammer on an empty chamber,” he told investigators.
Watts told detectives she prepared a charcuterie board while Kitson made dinner, according to the charges. She brought the cheeseboard to the living room and took a seat on the couch. Watts recalled her daughter was in front of her, between the couch and the coffee table.
Watts reported Kitson came into the living room, placed the firearm on the coffee table “real quick” and went to the bathroom, charges say. The gun, however, did not look close to the mother. In his interview with detectives, Kitson denied putting his revolver on the table at all.
According to Watts’ account, the next thing she knew, she heard a “bang.” Initially, she reported she was not in the room. Later, she reported she was.
“I don’t know!” she told a deputy as first responders performed CPR. “The gun just went off.”
A search warrant revealed the mother had sent or received 17 texts via Facebook Messenger in the 10 minutes before the 911 call, which led Snohomish County sheriff’s detective Tedd Betts “to conclude that Watts was heavily focused on her phone at the time the gun fired.”
Detectives concluded the daughter either grabbed the holster or pulled on a coat sitting underneath it, causing the hammer of the revolver to fall about 18 inches to the ground and fire on impact. A bullet went through the holster, through the jacket and into the child’s body at a 45-degree angle.
Watts called 911. Medics pronounced the child dead shortly after their arrival.
In an interview with detectives, Kitson’s roommate confirmed Watts was on the couch with the kids shortly before the shooting, charges say. The roommate reported he stepped outside for a smoke, and he suddenly heard a gunshot. The roommate rushed back inside to see Watts holding her daughter, screaming. The roommate told Watts to call 911. He recalled Kitson holding the gun and saying he was going to set it down “because police would want to see it.”
Watts told investigators she and Kitson often fought about guns, and that she had previously gotten mad at him for leaving it around the house.
Kitson told detectives the gun was initially in his car, but he took it out when Watts and the kids got home, charges say. He was “pretty sure” he put it on the shelf in the kitchen and didn’t move it.
The defendant had been walking in and out of the home at the time to prepare the grill outside, according to his account to detectives. He was on the stairs, heading to the kitchen, when he heard a single “pop sound,” according to his account. He ran to see the gun on the floor next to the coffee table.
“If I set it there, why would (Watts) have just let it be there then, if she knew that, and the kids were all out?” Kitson reportedly asked investigators.
During a search of the home the day after the shooting, detectives were unable to find a “logical spot” on the shelves where Kitson claimed he left the gun, according to court documents. Investigators also found the revolver had six chambers, not five, as Kitson stated.
Kitson reportedly purchased the revolver in June 2020. The safety manual had a message in all caps:
“IF THE HAMMER IS DOWN AND A LIVE CARTRIDGE IS IN LINE WITH THE BARREL, THE REVOLVER CAN BE FIRED IF IT IS DROPPED, OR IF THE HAMMER IS OTHERWISE STRUCK WITH SUFFICIENT FORCE.”
On Facebook, police found several videos recorded “no later than March 24, 2019,” showing Watts handling three pistols and a rifle.
Watts was not allowed to possess a gun because she had past convictions in Okanogan County for felony assault, drug possession and residential burglary in 2016. Kitson had been convicted of a felony in New Jersey in 2011 and several other misdemeanors.
In Washington, people with felony records can petition to have their firearm rights restored after five years “conviction-free.”
Both defendants have an arraignment set for Tuesday.
According to state law, first-degree manslaughter implies someone “recklessly” caused the death of another person. The standard range under state guidelines, for someone with no criminal record, is 6½ to 8½ years in prison.
Second-degree manslaughter means someone caused a death “with criminal negligence.” That offense carries a standard sentence of 1¾ to 2¼ years.
Gun violence has been a leading cause of death for kids and teens in Washington in recent years.
Between 2009 and 2013, 625 Washington residents died each year from gun violence. From 2017 and 2021, that number rose to an average of 852 each year.
“While school shootings dominate the narrative around children and gun violence, young people are more likely to be victims of unintentional shootings, domestic violence, or suicide,” the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility wrote on its website.
Several other Snohomish County residents have faced criminal charges on allegations of not properly storing their firearms in recent years, leading to the death of several children.
In 2012, a Marysville police officer allegedly left his gun in the family van’s cup holder. His 3-year-old son retrieved it and shot and killed his sister, 7. Prosecutors charged the officer with manslaughter, but a jury couldn’t reach a verdict. Prosecutors declined to retry the case.
In 2016, an Everett man was sentenced to two months in jail for leaving a loaded Ruger .380-caliber firearm near his 3-year-old son, who shot himself.
And in 2022, prosecutors charged a Monroe prison official with a felony after her son shot and killed himself with her gun, according to court documents. She was in a diversion program this week. She also settled a lawsuit filed by the father of the boy for an undisclosed amount.
Maya Tizon: 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
