United States v. Juvenile Male

MEMORANDUM **

Two juvenile criminal defendants, J.C.D. and T.J.S., challenge the district court’s orders transferring them from juvenile to adult status. We vacate both transfer orders and remand for further proceedings.

I.

In its order transferring J.C.D., the district court abused its discretion by making two clearly erroneous material findings of fact. First, the district court found that “[t]here is no record of abuse while [J.C.D. was] in foster care.” This is contrary to the evidence in the record. Dr. Beyer’s psychological evaluation states that J.C.D.’s mother “reported that he was also molested in a foster home.” Furthermore, J.C.D.’s mother testified in her deposition that J.C.D.’s older brother, Adam, had sexually abused J.C.D. while the two were living in foster care with their uncle, Pete. Likewise, J.C.D.’s mother admitted that *599 she would often bring her children home for visits while they were in foster care and that her boyfriend would sexually abuse J.C.D. on those visits. Accord United States v. Male, 492 F.3d 1046 (9th Cir.2007) (per curiam) (finding clear error when record evidence contradicted the district court’s finding that the juvenile suffered no…