YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick ruled Wednesday that a 14-year-old boy will stand trial in Mahoning County Juvenile Court in the March 23 shooting death of Keondre Lewis, 19, at a home on Rhoda Avenue on the West Side.

It means the boy’s case will not be transferred to the adult level Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for him to be tried as an adult.

A judgment entry in the case states that the boy, who turns 15 in October, will have a trial on not-yet determined dates on charges of murder with a firearm specification and murder with a mandatory Serious Youthful Offender (14 or 15) specification and specification of forfeiture of a weapon.

Dellick made the ruling after a review of the file, testimony at a probable cause hearing earlier this month and review of applicable law, the entry states.

“As this matter has been filed as a Mandatory Serious Youthful Offender, it shall now be set for trial on the facts and evidence,” the entry states. The trial shall be set with the (attorneys) of record.”

The boy has been in the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center lockup since the shooting occurred.

The majority of the entry consisted of a recap of the testimony at the probable cause hearing earlier this month, which was held so that Dellick could hear evidence and rule on how the case should proceed.

The first witness during the hearing was Lewis’ brother, who said the suspect is his cousin. He said his brother and cousin were on the first floor of the home on Rhoda when he and another person on the second floor heard a bang. He ran downstairs and saw his brother bleeding.

He said he did not see his cousin with a gun that day but knew that he had one. He saw his cousin run out the front door, so he went back upstairs, put on shoes, then ran out of the house but could not catch up to his cousin.

On cross examination, he said he loves his cousin and is not afraid of him. He also confirmed that his cousin lost a brother a week earlier. Youngstown Police crime scene officer Shakir Perkins testified regarding a handgun recovered from the suspect’s house.

Crime Scene officer Brad Datillio also testified to photos he took at the suspect’s house, including a photo of a firearm on the refrigerator. Youngstown Police Detective Phillip Skowron testified that the suspect did not make a statement regarding Lewis’ death. He “did keep repeating “My brother, my brother,” the entry states. Skowron confirmed that the suspect was 14 at the time of the killing.

Skowron confirmed that the suspect’s brother “had been shot a week earlier and was the victim of a homicide.” He testified that the victim was shot in the head behind his left ear.

The defense did not present any witnesses or exhibits, the entry states.

Also during the hearing, the victim’s brother testified that when he ran out of the house after the suspect, but before he could catch up to him, “the police got him.”

The suspect’s attorney, Walter Madison, took exception to the use of the word “flee” in connection to his client’s travel from the home on Rhoda to his own home.

Skowron also testified at the hearing that the bullet shell casing recovered at the Rhoda address was a “match” for the gun recovered from the suspect’s house, according to Vindicator files.

Madison questioned Skowron at length about the reasons the 14-year-old was charged with murder instead of a lesser offense that does not allege an intentional act.

Madison asked Skowron if firearms contain a warning that they are dangerous to children and asked if children are “just too immature to use a gun.” Skowron agreed with both statements.

Madison also referenced suggestions that the 14-year-old fired a handgun at a television set a week before the killing and a suggestion that the 14-year-old was “completely distraught” right after the killing. Madison asked if those things are “consistent with” a child committing an “intentional killing.”

Skowron replied, “I’m not a psychologist.”

Lewis was a 2024 Youngstown East High School graduate.