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In re J.F.

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Argued September 11, 2009

Before WASHINGTON, Chief Judge, KRAMER, Associate Judge, and NEWMAN, Senior Judge.

Appellant J.F. was charged with first-degree felony murder, second-degree murder, first-degree child sexual abuse, assault with a dangerous weapon (ADW) and second-degree theft. All of the charges, with the exception of second-degree theft, were related to J.F’s younger sister, A.F.*fn1 The trial court found appellant “involved” on all counts except second-degree murder and ordered his commitment to a juvenile facility until his twenty-first birthday.*fn2 J.F. appeals, arguing that the trial court erred: (1) in excluding certain hearsay statements; (2) in finding his other younger sister, L.F., incompetent to testify; and (3) in finding his statements to the police neither custodial nor involuntary. J.F. also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence underlying the court’s findings of guilt on the first-degree child sexual abuse, felony murder, and ADW charges. Finally, he argues that his adjudications for felony murder and first-degree child sexual abuse should merge. We conclude that J.F.’s confession of sexual assault was both custodial and involuntary and should have been excluded, and that the trial court’s error in admitting that confession was not harmless. We also conclude that there was insufficient evidence to support the adjudication for ADW. We thus hold that J.F.’s adjudications for first-degree sexual abuse, felony murder, and ADW cannot stand. We remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.*fn3

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