Granite Falls father pleads guilty in accidental shooting of baby

GRANITE FALLS — A father from Granite Falls, whose 11-month-old daughter died after his gun accidentally shot her, pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter.

Early this year, prosecutors charged Jesse Kitson, 33, and Arabella Watts, 27, in Snohomish County Superior Court with first-degree manslaughter and unsafe storage of a firearm. Watts had also been charged with unlawful firearm possession because a previous felony conviction barred her from having a gun.

Last week, Kitson pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter and the unsafe storage allegation in the death of their baby, Naleyna Rhonda Jean Kitson. The girl died two weeks shy of her first birthday.

Under state sentencing guidelines, Kitson, who has no felony history in Washington, faces between five and six years in prison on the manslaughter charge.

In June 2020, Kitson bought a Remington 1858 .44-caliber revolver, along with a .45-caliber conversion cylinder so he could use .45-caliber bullets in the gun, according to charging papers. The conversion cylinder came with a safety manual.

“IF THE HAMMER IS DOWN AND A LIVE CARTRIDGE IS IN LINE WITH THE BARREL, THE REVOLVER CAN FIRE IF DROPPED, OR IF THE HAMMER IS OTHERWISE STRUCK WITH SUFFICIENT FORCE,” the manual reportedly read, in all caps.

Watts didn’t like touching the gun, she later told investigators. She found it scary. Kitson wanted it for protection from “tweakers” in the neighborhood, she reported.

“I knew that this could happen,” Watts reportedly told police.

Kitson told detectives the gun had a five-shot capacity. He typically carried it with an empty chamber in a holster and left the hammer on that chamber.

On Dec. 4, 2021, Watts brought her son, 2, and daughter to Kitson’s mobile home in the 8600 block of Highway 92 near Granite Falls, according to court documents. That evening, Kitson was cooking dinner, walking between the kitchen and the grill on the porch.

Watts sat on the couch on her phone. Police believe Kitson left the loaded revolver on the coffee table in front of the sofa while cooking. Kitson, however, reported he left the gun on a nearby shelf. Watts told police it was on the coffee table.

The daughter either pulled the gun down or a coat entangled with the revolver, forcing the gun to fall to the floor, according to the charges. Upon impact, the revolver fired a round. The bullet went through the holster, through the coat and into the girl. She died at the scene.

An autopsy determined she suffered a “fatal through-and-through gunshot wound of the torso that entered the right hip, injured the right kidney, abdominal aorta, stomach, liver, and left lung, and exited the left chest,” according to court papers.

Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives later found the revolver had six chambers, not the five Kitson reported it had. The gun also had an empty chamber, but it was rotated one position past the fired cartridge. Kitson had told police he usually left the gun with the hammer on the empty chamber.

Several other Snohomish County parents have faced criminal charges for improperly storing their guns in recent years.

For example, prosecutors charged a Monroe prison official after her son, 12, got hold of her gun and killed himself with it. She completed a felony diversion program to avoid prosecution.

Kitson’s sentencing is set for Jan. 15. Watts’ case remained pending this week.

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; X: @GoldsteinStreet.