State v. Stuckey

In State v. Stuckey, 174 W.Va. 236, 324 S.E.2d 379 (1984) (per curiam), a juvenile transfer case, the Court stated that hearsay testimony alone would ordinarily be insufficient to support a decision to transfer a youthful offender from the Anthony Center, citing with approval cases from many jurisdictions holding that hearsay alone cannot ordinarily support a probation revocation ruling. 174 W.Va. at 238, 324 S.E.2d at 381. The Court reversed the determination of the Circuit Court of Marion County that a youthful offender was unfit to remain at the Anthony Correctional Center and should be sentenced to the penitentiary. In Stuckey, the Court compared the Circuit Court's determination of unfitness to a violation of probation and concluded that, inasmuch as the majority of foreign jurisdictions hold that a probation revocation cannot be based upon hearsay alone, the Circuit Court committed error in relying solely on hearsay in its determination that the youthful offender had engaged in conduct warranting his expulsion from the Anthony Correctional Center.