State Court of Appeals Upholds Child Molestation Convictions for Kitsap County Man
The Washington State Court of Appeals has affirmed the convictions of Robert Aaron Estes, a Kitsap County man found guilty of six counts of second-degree child molestation involving two underage girls.
In an unpublished opinion issued July 7, the Division II appellate court unanimously upheld the August 2024 judgment delivered in Kitsap County Superior Court.
The original trial proceedings were overseen by Judge William C. Houser. The appellate ruling ensures Estes’ convictions—which each carry a special allegation of abuse of trust—will stand.
A Tale of Two Courtrooms
For local court watchers, the appellate court’s affirmation of Judge Houser’s ruling highlights a stark and growing divide within the Kitsap County Superior Court bench—especially regarding the handling and sentencing of child sex offenders.
Judge Houser has built a reputation across the Olympic Peninsula for strict adherence to constitutional boundaries and holding offenders accountable.
His rigorous pretrial rulings in the Estes case ensured the prosecution’s evidence of a “common scheme” was cross-admissible, ultimately leading to a sweeping set of convictions that easily withstood appellate scrutiny.
By contrast, the Kitsap bench is also home to Judge Cadine Ferguson-Brown, whose highly controversial sentencing philosophies have sparked intense public backlash.
As The Olympic Herald previously reported, on June 5 of this year, Judge Ferguson-Brown presided over the sentencing of John Michael Daly, a 58-year-old Silverdale man who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing his 5- and 9-year-old daughters over a four-year period.
While the standard sentencing guidelines called for 67 to 89 months in a state penitentiary for first-degree child molestation, Judge Ferguson-Brown granted Daly a Special Sexual Offender Sentencing Alternative.
She suspended a 78-month prison sentence for life, ordering him to serve just 12 months in the Kitsap County Jail with outpatient treatment.
The extraordinary leniency aligns with Judge Ferguson-Brown’s publicly stated judicial philosophy.
In a 2023 radio interview, she stated that criminals “need to feel respected” and that prioritizing an offender’s feelings is key to rehabilitation.
Ferguson-Brown, who was ousted by Mason County voters in 2023 before being appointed to Kitsap County by Gov. Jay Inslee, has also drawn criticism in civil court.
While Judge Houser fiercely defended the First Amendment earlier this year by striking down an unconstitutional prior restraint order against the press, Ferguson-Brown signed a similar, highly criticized gag order just months prior.
The Estes Trial Evidence
Returning to the Estes proceedings, Houser’s firm judicial approach was on full display in a case stemming from incidents that took place around 2022.
According to court documents, Estes, then 31, befriended his neighbors and volunteered alongside the two victims—identified in court records as AB, then 11, and AJD, then 12—as “scare actors” at My Haunted Forest. Following their weekend shifts at the local attraction, the girls would often spend the night at Estes’ home.
Prosecutors from the Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office presented evidence at trial that Estes used scary video games and movies as pretexts for the abuse.
Court records indicate Estes would play horror games like Kill It With Fire and Five Nights at Freddy’s with AB and ask to “feel her heartbeat” when she was startled, placing his hand on her chest for extended periods.
AJD testified to multiple instances where Estes placed his hand under her clothing while they watched movies.
Estes’ appeal challenged multiple facets of his trial, including the sufficiency of the evidence, the admission of a forensic interview, the effectiveness of his defense counsel, and the admissibility of his statements to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office.
Writing for the three-judge panel, Judge Anne Cruser systematically rejected the arguments. Acting Chief Judge Erik Price and Judge Bradley Maxa concurred.
In his appeal, Estes claimed his Fifth Amendment rights were violated because Kitsap County Sheriff’s Detective Meyer did not read him his Miranda rights prior to a police interview.
The appellate court rejected this argument, noting that Estes voluntarily met the detective at the sheriff’s office, chose the time of the interview, was explicitly told he was free to leave, and even stayed to ask his own questions after the detective concluded the session.
“Under these circumstances, a reasonable person would not believe that their freedom had been restricted to the degree associated with formal arrest,” Judge Cruser wrote in the ruling.
Estes’ appellate defense attorneys, Lise Ellner and Shawn P. Hennessy, also argued there was insufficient evidence to prove that touching AB’s chest was done for “sexual gratification”—a required element under state law.
The appellate court disagreed. The judges ruled that the prolonged duration of the touching, the absence of any medical or caregiving purpose, and Estes’ similar actions toward AJD provided ample circumstantial evidence for a Kitsap County jury to infer his intent.
The court also dismissed Estes’ claims of ineffective counsel regarding his trial attorney’s decision not to file a motion to sever the charges involving the two victims into separate trials.
Siding with Kitsap County appellate prosecutors Randall Avery Sutton and John L. Cross, the panel noted that a severance motion was unlikely to succeed.
Judge Houser correctly ruled at the trial level that evidence of Estes’ actions toward one victim was cross-admissible to establish a “common scheme or plan.”
With the appeal fully denied, the Kitsap Superior Court’s 2024 judgment overseen by Judge Houser remains completely intact.