The 14-year-old youth charged in the death of a Cheltenham Youth Facility teacher was indicted Tuesday and will be tried as an adult on a first-degree murder charge in the 2010 death of the teacher and attempted murder related to a separate stabbing in 2009.

Brian Lee Wonsom of Laurel was 13 when he allegedly killed and sexually assaulted Hannah Wheeling, 65, of Bel Air in February 2010. He is facing charges of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted rape, and other charges for sexual assault and use of a dangerous weapon.

In October 2009, he allegedly broke into a woman's home and stabbed her in her sleep, according to the indictment and testimony at his juvenile status hearing.

Wonsom was indicted on a total of nine counts in the two cases and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.

After Prince George's County Juvenile Court Judge C. Philip Nichols Jr. ruled in February that Wonsom could be tried as an adult in the murder case, prosecutors also moved forward to charge him as an adult in the attempted-murder case.

Wonsom is the youngest person to be tried in adult court in the county's history, according to Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for the Prince George's County state's attorney's office. Previously the youngest juvenile to face adult charges was 14 at the time of the crime.

During Wonsom's juvenile status hearing, a clinical psychologist testified that Wonsom had a history of emotional disturbance dating back to age 6 and had received specialized care in the county school system until he was sent to Cheltenham in 2009.

Wonsom's public defender, Allen Wolf, could not be reached for comment late Tuesday. Wolf has said previously that if Wonsom ultimately is convicted, he plans to appeal the juvenile status decision and that his client is prevented from appealing Nichols' decision about his juvenile status until after the case has been completed.

No trial date has been set for either case yet, according to online court records.

anoble@gazette.net