State v. Ellsworth

MILLER, Justice:

This is a direct statutory appeal by Ells-worth J.R., a juvenile, 1 from an order of the Circuit Court of Berkeley County transferring him to adult criminal jurisdiction upon a finding of probable cause to believe he had committed murder, one of the permissible transfer offenses enumerated in W.Va. Code, 49-5-l(d)(l).

The principal assignment of error relates to the validity of the juvenile’s confession which was taken on February 7, 1984, when he was seventeen years of age, while he was in custody and without counsel or relatives present.

The circumstances surrounding the…