# J Q R v. State of Indiana

> Indiana Supreme Court · March 12, 2025

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10821993

## Case

- **Court:** Indiana Supreme Court
- **Decided:** March 12, 2025
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10821993

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- explaining in dicta that a child’s uncle who was also Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. No. 24S-JV-298 | March 12, 2025 Page 10 of 15 arrested for the same crime “potentially would have held interests adverse to the juvenile”
- recognizing that an adult’s consultation with a juvenile is “meaningful” only “in the absence of the neutralizing pressures which result from police presence”

## Opinion text

IN THE

Indiana Supreme Court
Supreme Court Case No. 24S-JV-298 FILED
Mar 12 2025, 12:44 pm

J.Q.R., CLERK
Indiana Supreme Court
Appellant Court of Appeals
and Tax Court

–v–

State of Indiana,
Appellee

Argued: October 31, 2024 | Decided: March 12, 2025

Appeal from the Hendricks Superior Court
No. 32D03-2303-JD-49
The Honorable Ryan W. Tanselle, Judge

On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals
No. 23A-JV-1879

Opinion by Chief Justice Rush
Justices Massa, Slaughter, Goff, and Molter concur.
Rush, Chief Justice.

The United States and Indiana Constitutions protect Hoosiers’ rights
against self-incrimination and ensure that only voluntary statements made
to police can be used against them in criminal prosecutions. We have long
recognized that children are uniquely vulnerable to the coercive pressure
of police interrogation, and our General Assembly has imposed additional
safeguards through the juvenile-waiver statute. This statute limits a
child’s ability to waive their rights and speak to police by imposing
several procedural prerequisites. Among these requirements, a parent
may waive their child’s rights only if they have no interest adverse to the
child. This case presents a question of first impression: whether a parent’s
own criminal conduct can produce an adverse interest.

Here, a fifteen-year-old child’s father twice waived the child’s rights,
and the child made incriminating statements to a detective about selling
pills to his classmates. At the time of both waivers, the detective had
discovered evidence that the child’s father was also engaged in illegal
drug activity. And three other relatives were present but not consulted
before the first waiver. During the delinquency proceedings, the child
objected to the admission of his statements to the detective, arguing that
his father had an adverse interest at the time of both waivers. The trial
court disagreed and admitted the child’s statements into evidence,
ultimately adjudicating him a delinquent child.

Based on the text of the juvenile-waiver statute, we hold that an
adverse interest may arise if the evidence shows an adult stands to
personally benefit from waiving a child’s rights to the child’s detriment.
Because the record here unequivocally includes such evidence, the State
failed to meet its burden to prove the father had no interest adverse to the
child each time he waived his son’s rights. Thus, we hold that the trial
court erred in admitting the child’s statements. But because we hold that
the error was harmless, we affirm.

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Facts and Procedural History
Fifteen-year-old J.Q.R. sold pills to two freshman classmates, B.H. and
R.J., after they asked him for Percocet M30 pills. Though pharmaceutical
grade Percocet M30 pills contain oxycodone, the pills J.Q.R. sold
contained fentanyl. B.H. and R.J. were aware the pills contained fentanyl,
and they each consumed about one-eighth of a pill at B.H.’s house. R.J.
then “did more” later that night at his house.

Tragically, in what has become a far too common occurrence, R.J. was
found dead in his bedroom the next day from a fentanyl overdose. Law
enforcement immediately began to investigate, and a detective spoke with
both R.J.’s family and B.H. From B.H., the detective learned details about
the previous day’s drug sale as well as J.Q.R.’s address. Using this
information, the detective quickly secured a warrant to search J.Q.R.’s
home for a broad array of items including “any and all” illegal drugs or
drug paraphernalia. Around 11:00 p.m. that night, several police officers
arrived at the home, which was owned by J.Q.R.’s paternal grandparents,
to execute the search.

J.Q.R.’s father (“Father”) answered the door wearing a t-shirt that read
“Have a Good Trip,” with imagery alluding to psychedelic drug use. The
officers then gathered everyone—Father, J.Q.R., his mother, his
grandparents, and his younger brother—in the living room where the
detective read the search warrant and officers seized J.Q.R.’s phone. Soon
after the officers began the search, they found a wallet containing Father’s
expired driver’s license and “some white powder in a small baggie” that
the detective “believed . . . was going to be heroin.” The detective then
pulled J.Q.R. and Father into the kitchen where he advised them of
J.Q.R.’s Miranda rights and asked them to privately discuss whether J.Q.R.
wished to waive his rights and consent to questioning.

J.Q.R. and Father spoke privately in a bedroom and emerged a short
time later. Father informed the detective they “were willing to speak”
with him but wanted to do so “out of ear shot of other people.” So the
three went back into the bedroom, and the detective shut the door and
began questioning J.Q.R. During the interrogation, Father asserted several

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. No. 24S-JV-298 | March 12, 2025 Page 3 of 15
times that he did not know what was going on and that he wanted what
was best for J.Q.R. He also referenced his own experience with police and
even joined in the questioning, pressing J.Q.R. to say whether he had
given the pills to classmates or sold them and asking whether he knew the
pills contained fentanyl. J.Q.R. confirmed he had sold the pills knowing
they contained fentanyl. The detective then asked J.Q.R. to show him
where the pills were located, and J.Q.R. led him and Father to an upstairs
closet. The interrogation continued in the upstairs hallway, where Father
encouraged J.Q.R. to answer the detective’s questions, and J.Q.R. relayed
that he had bought the pills from an adult, Trevor Strickland. J.Q.R. also
told the detective, to Father’s surprise, that Father had driven him to his
classmate’s house to sell the pills. Father posed more questions to J.Q.R.
and disputed any involvement in the pill sale, telling the detective, “I
don’t know about any of this.”

The police ultimately found and seized two bottles containing pills,
some of which matched those found in R.J.’s bedroom; a box addressed to
Father from California containing THC vape cartridges; and a ledger with
a list of names and amounts owed totaling over $9,000. Police later
secured a search warrant for the contents of J.Q.R.’s phone, which
contained information about R.J.’s payment for the pills and texts between
J.Q.R. and B.H. and between J.Q.R. and Strickland.

A little after midnight, as officers concluded the search, the detective
drove Father and J.Q.R. to the police station to conduct a second
interrogation. Father again waived J.Q.R.’s Miranda rights. The detective
then questioned J.Q.R. further about the pill sale, and J.Q.R. eventually
admitted to also selling THC vape pens to his friends. But he denied
knowing about or having used the ledger. Father initially seemed
surprised when hearing about the ledger but then stated that it was “old,
old stuff” he had used “years ago.” As the interrogation ended, the
detective asked J.Q.R. for the passcode to his phone, which he provided.
The detective later confirmed through J.Q.R.’s text messages that Father
was supplying J.Q.R. with THC vape cartridges to sell.

The day after the search, the detective arrested Father and J.Q.R. The
State ultimately charged Father with six felonies and one misdemeanor

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and listed J.Q.R. as a potential witness for Father’s prosecution. Father
eventually pleaded guilty to Level 5 felony dealing in marijuana,
including a habitual offender enhancement, and is serving a seven-year
sentence. As for J.Q.R., the State filed a delinquency petition alleging that
he committed six offenses. The State also listed Father as a witness for
J.Q.R.’s fact-finding hearing.

During the fact-finding hearing, J.Q.R. moved to suppress both the
disclosure of his phone’s passcode and his statements to the detective at
his home and at the police station. He challenged his passcode disclosure
under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and
Article 1, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution. And he challenged his
statements to the detective in part under Indiana’s juvenile-waiver statute,
arguing that because Father had an interest adverse to J.Q.R. each time
they consulted and agreed that J.Q.R. would speak with police, the State
had failed to show he received the protections embedded in the statute.
The trial court denied the motion. Later, over J.Q.R.’s objections, the court
admitted into evidence J.Q.R. and Father’s conversations with the
detective at both the home and police station. The court ultimately found
J.Q.R. delinquent for committing acts that if committed by an adult would
be Level 1 felony dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death,
Level 5 felony dealing in a narcotic drug, and Level 6 felony possession of
a narcotic drug. The court granted wardship of J.Q.R. to the Department
of Correction and recommended he be detained until his eighteenth
birthday.

J.Q.R. appealed, arguing that the trial court abused its discretion by
admitting his statements. The Court of Appeals disagreed and affirmed.
J.Q.R. v. State, 232 N.E.3d 654, 657 (Ind. Ct. App. 2024). J.Q.R. then
petitioned for transfer, which we granted, vacating the Court of Appeals’
opinion. Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A). 1

1We summarily affirm the portion of the Court of Appeals’ opinion holding that the trial
court did not abuse its discretion by granting the State’s motion to continue the fact-finding
hearing. See App. R. 58(A)(2).

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Standard of Review
Because J.Q.R. asserts the trial court abused its discretion by admitting
his statements into evidence without a valid waiver of rights as required
by statute, this case involves two standards of review. We review these
evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion, which occurs when the
ruling is either clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and
circumstances before the court, or when it misinterprets the law. Williams
v. State, 43 N.E.3d 578, 581 (Ind. 2015). But we review issues of statutory
interpretation de novo. Bojko v. Anonymous Physician, 232 N.E.3d 1155,
1158 (Ind. 2024).

Discussion and Decision
Both the United States Constitution and the Indiana Constitution
protect an individual’s privilege against self-incrimination and ensure that
only their voluntary statements can be used against them in a criminal
prosecution. See U.S. Const. amends. V, XIV, § 1; Ind. Const. art. 1, § 14;
D.M. v. State, 949 N.E.2d 327, 332–33 (Ind. 2011). These protections extend
to situations when law enforcement questions a juvenile “who is in
custody—i.e., custodial interrogation.” D.M., 949 N.E.2d at 333. Because
such interrogations employ “inherently compelling pressures,” police
must first inform a suspect of their constitutional rights, including the
rights to remain silent and to an attorney. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436,
467–73 (1966). These Miranda rights are “especially important” for
juveniles, as they are “particularly vulnerable” to an interrogation’s
coercive effects. B.A. v. State, 100 N.E.3d 225, 230 (Ind. 2018).

Indiana has long been at the forefront of recognizing this vulnerability
by imposing additional safeguards that must be met before a juvenile can
waive their rights. Over fifty years ago, we held that both the juvenile and
their parent or guardian must not only be advised of the juvenile’s
Miranda rights but also be given a chance to consult to determine whether
the juvenile should waive those rights. Lewis v. State, 288 N.E.2d 138, 142
(Ind. 1972). We later clarified that this opportunity for consultation must
be “meaningful,” which “can only occur in the absence of the neutralizing

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pressures” that result from “police presence.” Hall v. State, 346 N.E.2d 584,
586–87 (Ind. 1976). And we then explained that the meaningful
consultation must be with an adult “who, by nature, would have the best
interest of the suspect uppermost in his thoughts.” Buchanan v. State, 376
N.E.2d 1131, 1134 (Ind. 1978). That same year, our Legislature enshrined
these safeguards in a statute now codified at Indiana Code section 31-32-5-
1 (the “Juvenile Waiver Statute”). Pub. L. No. 136, § 1, 1978 Ind. Acts 1196,
1232–33.

Under the Juvenile Waiver Statute, an unemancipated child cannot
unilaterally waive their Miranda rights. See Ind. Code § 31-32-5-1. One way
such a child can waive these rights is through a “custodial parent,
guardian, custodian, or guardian ad litem” but only if four requirements
are satisfied. Id. § -1(2). The qualified adult must knowingly and
voluntarily waive the child’s rights, and the child must knowingly and
voluntarily join the waiver. Id. § -1(2)(A), (D). They must also engage
together in “meaningful consultation,” id. § -1(2)(C), which is designed to
ensure that the child can decide whether to waive their rights “in a
comparatively relaxed and stable atmosphere,” D.M., 949 N.E.2d at 335.
Finally, the adult must have “no interest adverse to the child.” Id. § -
1(2)(B). The State bears the heavy burden of proving beyond a reasonable
doubt that each requirement was met. See Taylor v. State, 438 N.E.2d 275,
283 (Ind. 1982); D.M., 949 N.E.2d at 334. If that burden is not satisfied, “the
introduction in evidence of a statement made by” the child “is forbidden.”
Stewart v. State, 754 N.E.2d 492, 495 (Ind. 2001) (quoting Stidham v. State,
608 N.E.2d 699, 700 (Ind. 1993)).

At issue here is whether the record supports a conclusion that the State
met its burden to satisfy the Juvenile Waiver Statute’s requirement that
Father had “no interest adverse” to J.Q.R. at the time of the waivers. I.C. §
31-32-5-1(2)(B). Though the subsequent statute permits a child to waive
their right to meaningful consultation, id. § -5-2, no provision allows a
child to waive the no-adverse-interest requirement. And unlike other
protections in the Juvenile Waiver Statute, we have rarely had occasion to
interpret the meaning and scope of what constitutes an “interest adverse
to the child.” See Taylor, 438 N.E.2d at 283–84; Graham v. State, 464 N.E.2d
1, 4 (Ind. 1984); Whipple v. State, 523 N.E.2d 1363, 1369–70 (Ind. 1988);

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Trowbridge v. State, 717 N.E.2d 138, 147 (Ind. 1999). And we have never
faced the precise inquiry presented here: whether and under what
circumstances an adult’s criminal conduct can render their interests
adverse to a child.

J.Q.R. contends that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting
the inculpatory statements he made during the custodial interrogations at
his home and at the police station, asserting the State failed to prove
Father had no interest adverse to J.Q.R. either time he waived J.Q.R.’s
rights. J.Q.R. then maintains this error cannot be harmless because the
statements were the only evidence showing he “knew or reasonably
should have known that the pills were laced with fentanyl.” The State
disagrees on both points. It asserts that Father did not have an adverse
interest because “[t]here was no evidence” he was not acting with J.Q.R.’s
“best interests in mind.” And it contends that any error in admitting
J.Q.R.’s statements would be harmless.

We agree in part with both parties. Based on the plain text of the
Juvenile Waiver Statute, we conclude that an adverse interest may arise if
the evidence shows the adult stands to personally benefit from waiving
the juvenile’s rights to the juvenile’s detriment. Here, at both moments
J.Q.R.’s rights were waived, the police had uncovered evidence of Father’s
illegal drug activity. This evidence revealed Father had an interest in
avoiding or mitigating police suspicion against him and thus could
personally benefit from waiving J.Q.R.’s rights to J.Q.R.’s detriment. Given
this evidence, the State failed to meet its burden to show Father did not
have an adverse interest either time he waived J.Q.R.’s rights. And so, we
hold that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting J.Q.R.’s
inculpatory statements. But we conclude this error was harmless because
its probable impact was minor in light of independent, unchallenged
evidence establishing that J.Q.R. knew the pills contained fentanyl.
Accordingly, we affirm.

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I. The trial court abused its discretion by admitting
J.Q.R.’s inculpatory statements because the State
failed to prove Father had no adverse interest.
We first determine whether and under what circumstances an adult’s
criminal conduct can render their interests adverse to a child by
examining the text of the Juvenile Waiver Statute. Based on that text and
plain-language definitions of relevant terms, we conclude that an adult
may have an adverse interest if, at the time the adult waives the child’s
rights, the evidence shows the adult stands to personally benefit from
waiving the child’s rights to the child’s detriment. This conclusion is also
consistent with our caselaw applying the no-adverse-interest requirement.
We then examine the facts here and conclude the State failed to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt that Father had no interest adverse to J.Q.R.
either time Father waived J.Q.R.’s rights.

A. An adverse interest may arise if the evidence shows the
adult stands to personally benefit from waiving the
juvenile’s rights to the juvenile’s detriment.
To determine the meaning of the Juvenile Waiver Statute’s requirement
that an adult have “no interest adverse to the child,” I.C. § 31-32-5-1(2)(B),
we first look to the statute’s text and give the terms their “plain and
ordinary meaning,” Daniels v. FanDuel, Inc., 109 N.E.3d 390, 394 (Ind. 2018)
(quotation omitted). Because the Legislature has not defined “interest” or
“adverse,” we turn to general-language dictionaries for guidance. Smith v.
State, 232 N.E.3d 109, 115 (Ind. 2024). One such dictionary defines
“interest” in relevant part as an “advantage” or “benefit.” Interest,
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/interest (last visited Mar. 12, 2025). And
“adverse” is defined as “acting against or in a contrary direction.” Adverse,
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/adverse (last visited Mar. 12, 2025).

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Consistent with these definitions, an adverse interest can arise when an
adult is pitted against a child—such as when a caseworker who waived a
juvenile’s rights had initiated the delinquency proceedings against the
juvenile and was employed by the “state agency” that “effectively
assumed the role of an adverse party.” Borum v. State, 434 N.E.2d 581, 584
(Ind. Ct. App. 1982); see also Whipple, 523 N.E.2d at 1370. But the
definitions of these statutory terms also demonstrate that an adult can
have an adverse interest if the evidence shows the adult stands to
otherwise personally benefit from waiving the child’s rights to the child’s
detriment.

This proposition is consistent with caselaw interpreting and applying
the no-adverse-interest requirement, which we’ve recognized was
designed to ensure that an “adult does not stand to benefit by cooperating
with the police and encouraging the juvenile to act in a manner adverse to
his interests.” Taylor, 438 N.E.2d at 284. Aligned with this design, we’ve
found no adverse interest based solely on evidence that a parent and their
child’s relationship was strained. Id. at 283–84; Graham, 464 N.E.2d at 4.
We’ve also concluded that an adverse interest did not arise from a familial
tie between an adult and the juvenile’s alleged victims, Whipple, 523
N.E.2d at 1369–70, nor from a parent alerting police to their child’s
involvement in criminal activity, Trowbridge, 717 N.E.2d at 147; see also
M.R. v. State, 605 N.E.2d 204, 207 (Ind. Ct. App. 1992). And our Court of
Appeals has found no adverse interest when a mother waived her older
son’s rights despite both facing criminal liability for the death of the
younger son. N.B. v. State, 971 N.E.2d 1247, 1254–55 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012),
trans. denied. The mother was not a “key witness” against the older son,
who confessed to shooting his brother, and she did not stand to personally
benefit from his waiver because she faced neglect charges for the younger
son’s death regardless of what the older son told police. Id.

Each case above lacked evidence that the adult stood to personally
benefit from waiving the juvenile’s rights to the juvenile’s detriment. But
that may not be true if there is evidence of an adult’s own criminal activity
that produces an incentive in them to curry favor with police and avoid
suspicion by encouraging a juvenile to waive their rights. See Taylor, 438
N.E.2d at 284 (explaining in dicta that a child’s uncle who was also

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arrested for the same crime “potentially would have held interests adverse
to the juvenile”). In these circumstances, the adult may have a diminished
ability to provide the equalizing force necessary to stave off the coercive
environment of a custodial interrogation. Cf. Hall, 346 N.E.2d at 587
(recognizing that an adult’s consultation with a juvenile is “meaningful”
only “in the absence of the neutralizing pressures which result from police
presence”).

Determining whether an adult has an adverse interest is inherently a
fact-specific inquiry that will turn on the totality of information available
to police at the time of the waiver. See Trowbridge, 717 N.E.2d at 147. So to
ensure the State “exercised adequate precaution” in accepting a waiver of
a child’s rights, Taylor, 438 N.E.2d at 284, we conclude trial courts must
examine that information through the lens of a reasonable officer in
determining whether the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that an
adult had no interest adverse to a child when the waiver occurred. With
the proper analytical framework in hand, we now examine the evidence
here to determine whether the record supports a conclusion that the State
met its burden.

B. The State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt
that Father had no interest adverse to J.Q.R. either time
J.Q.R.’s rights were waived.
Recall that J.Q.R. challenges the trial court’s decision to admit as
evidence his inculpatory statements to the detective at his home and at the
police station. The basis for this challenge is J.Q.R.’s assertion that Father
had an adverse interest because “[t]he record shows” he “stood to benefit
by encouraging his son to cooperate with police” to J.Q.R.’s detriment. We
agree and hold that, on this record, the State failed to meet its heavy
burden to prove otherwise.

We reach this conclusion based on an examination of the totality of the
circumstances confronting the detective at the time of each waiver. Before
J.Q.R. spoke to the detective at the home, several police officers had
arrived to execute a broad search warrant for, among other items, “any

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and all” illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia. The officers were
immediately greeted at the door by Father wearing a t-shirt with a
message and imagery that glamorized drug use. Then, after gathering
J.Q.R.’s family in the living room, the officers began the search and
quickly found evidence that Father possessed illegal drugs—a bag of a
white powdered substance in Father’s wallet that the detective “believed .
. . was going to be heroin.” Given this sequence of events, the detective at
that moment was on notice that Father had an incentive to avoid or
mitigate police suspicion of his own drug possession. And thus a
reasonable officer would have realized this incentive rendered Father’s
interests adverse to J.Q.R. Specifically, Father could personally benefit
from waiving J.Q.R.’s Miranda rights and allowing J.Q.R. to speak with
police to his detriment by focusing the detective on J.Q.R.’s wrongdoing
rather than on Father’s own criminal activities.

Father was also not the detective’s only option, as J.Q.R.’s mother and
paternal grandparents were sitting in the living room. But after finding
the heroin in Father’s wallet, the detective brought only Father and J.Q.R.
into the kitchen to advise them of J.Q.R.’s rights and allow them to consult
privately. Despite J.Q.R.’s mother’s presence nearby, the detective testified
that he never considered including her in these conversations. When, as
here, police become aware that a parent has competing or diverging
interests from their child, we urge them to consider the availability of
other adults without such competing interests who can advise the child to
ensure the parent with diverging interests cannot assume the role of
interrogator. See State in re A.S., 999 A.2d 1136, 1150 (N.J. 2010). As the
detective failed to do so here, we find the State failed to prove that he
“exercised adequate precaution” in accepting J.Q.R.’s first waiver. Taylor,
438 N.E.2d at 284.

We reach the same conclusion when examining the circumstances that
arose between the first waiver and the second waiver later that night at
the police station. After the first waiver, officers uncovered evidence in the
home that implicated Father in additional criminal activity—a package
with several boxes of THC vape cartridges addressed to Father and a
ledger with a list of names and amounts owed totaling more than $9,000.
Further, despite the initial evidence of Father’s own drug possession in the

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home, the detective allowed Father to assume the role of interrogator and
participate in J.Q.R.’s questioning. Father continually asserted his
innocence while encouraging J.Q.R. to confess to any wrongdoing. And
after J.Q.R. told the detective that Father drove him to his classmate’s
home to sell the pills, Father prompted J.Q.R. to vouch for Father’s
innocence in that transaction. Most concerningly, Father’s questions
elicited some of J.Q.R.’s most incriminating statements, including his
admission that the pills contained fentanyl. Based on these facts, a
reasonable officer would have known at the time of the second waiver
that Father had an even greater interest in avoiding or mitigating police
suspicion against him and again could personally benefit from waiving
J.Q.R.’s Miranda rights to J.Q.R.’s detriment.

As these conclusions are necessarily bound by the particular facts of
this case, we decline to draw a bright-line rule that any evidence of an
adult’s criminal conduct will render their interests adverse to a child. See
N.B., 971 N.E.2d at 1254–55. Indeed, most parents have every capacity to
safeguard their child’s best interests when helping them decide whether to
waive their rights. And we have no doubt that Father loves J.Q.R. But
parental love alone does not negate evidence that a parent possesses an
interest adverse to their child at the time the child’s rights are waived.
And when, as here, the evidence shows that a parent may be preoccupied
with obscuring from police evidence of their own wrongdoing and thus
might struggle to safeguard their child’s best interests, officers must
exercise caution in allowing the parent to waive their child’s rights.

In summary, the facts and circumstances at the time of each waiver
establish the State failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Father
had no interest adverse to J.Q.R. either time he waived J.Q.R.’s rights. And
thus, the trial court abused its discretion by admitting J.Q.R.’s inculpatory
statements during the fact-finding hearing. We now assess the effect of
this non-constitutional error to determine whether reversal is required.

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II. The error in admitting J.Q.R.’s statements was
harmless.
When, as here, we must determine whether a non-constitutional error is
harmless, “the party seeking relief bears the burden of demonstrating
how, in light of all the evidence in the case, the error’s probable impact
undermines confidence in the outcome of the proceeding below.” Hayko v.
State, 211 N.E.3d 483, 492 (Ind. 2023). In arguing that reversal is required,
J.Q.R. challenges only his adjudication for dealing in a controlled
substance resulting in death. For that offense, the State had to prove he
knowingly or intentionally delivered fentanyl-laced pills to R.J., this
conduct caused R.J.’s death, and the death was reasonably foreseeable. See
I.C. § 35-42-1-1.5(a); Yeary v. State, 186 N.E.3d 662, 673–74 (Ind. Ct. App.
2022). J.Q.R. maintains there was “no evidence” aside from his statements
to the detective that he “knew or reasonably should have known that the
pills were laced with fentanyl.” But the record belies his assertion.

During the fact-finding hearing, the State entered into evidence text
messages between J.Q.R. and Trevor Strickland, the adult who was later
convicted of selling the pills to J.Q.R. In one message, sent about two
weeks before J.Q.R. sold the pills to B.H. and R.J., J.Q.R. texted Strickland,
“[T]hese fentanyl right?” Additionally, on the day of the pill sale, J.Q.R.
texted Strickland asking, “[T]he blues aren’t pharmacy scripted right?”
Within a few seconds, before Strickland responded, J.Q.R. texted
Strickland again informing him that “these hitters and got a phat
tolerance.” Consistent with this message, the State presented evidence that
B.H. had texted Strickland about his “tolerance for fentanyl.”

The above text messages provided the trial court with ample evidence
that J.Q.R. knew the pills he sold to B.H. and R.J. contained fentanyl. We
thus conclude J.Q.R. has failed to show that the likely impact of the court’s
error in admitting his statements, considering the evidence before the
court, undermines confidence in his adjudication for dealing in a
controlled substance resulting in death. As a result, we hold that the error
was harmless.

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. No. 24S-JV-298 | March 12, 2025 Page 14 of 15
Conclusion
The State failed to meet its burden to show Father had no interest
adverse to J.Q.R. at the times Father waived J.Q.R.’s rights and they spoke
to a detective. We therefore hold that the trial court abused its discretion
by admitting J.Q.R.’s inculpatory statements. But because we hold the
error was harmless, we affirm.

Massa, Slaughter, Goff, and Molter, JJ., concur.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT J.Q.R.
Zachary J. Stock
Zachary J. Stock, Attorney at Law, P.C.
Carmel, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE STATE OF INDIANA
Theodore E. Rokita
Attorney General of Indiana

Catherine E. Brizzi
Kelly A. Loy
Deputy Attorneys General
Indianapolis, Indiana

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. No. 24S-JV-298 | March 12, 2025 Page 15 of 15

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10821993. Public record. Not legal advice.