WARREN — Fifteen-year-old Andrew James Cunningham, who is charged with murder, will remain in detention while waiting for his next pretrial hearing as prosecuting attorneys await lab results and a coroner’s report.

Cunningham stood beside his attorney, Gary Rich, as he entered a “not true” plea before Trumbull County Juvenile Court Judge Samuel F. Bluedorn. In juvenile court, a plea of “not true” is the equivalent to a defendant giving a “not guilty” plea in adult court.

Fifteen-years-to-life is the prison penalty Bluedorn said Cunningham faces if charged and convicted as an adult on the charge of murder. The prison term would run consecutive to three years for a firearm specification.

If charged as a juvenile offender, the maximum the court can do is commit Cunningham to the Ohio Department of Youth Services until his 21st birthday, as per the case for juveniles facing aggravated or murder charges.

Bluedorn has discretion over whether the 15-year-old’s case will be bound over to Common Pleas Court. Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Stanley Elkins and Kevin Trapp will have to show probable cause on the murder, then a special hearing would be held to determine whether to bind the case over to adult court.

After the court appearance, Rich discussed a request for pretrial release, which was denied during the hearing by Bluedorn.

“My juvenile client was 15-years-old the time it happened and has no juvenile whatsoever, good student, nothing wrong in the past,” Rich said. “He was invited there to the party, the decedent came there looking for trouble as witnesses will testify to. My client believes he was in imminent harm of himself or others and fired one shot in self-defense and voluntarily turned himself in to police in full cooperation.”

The attorney believes the case will remain in juvenile court, “A juvenile can be tried as an adult if and only if the court finds he’s not amenable to treatment, that’s the key issue here — are you amenable to treatment or not — my client has no juvenile record whatsoever so how can he not be amenable to treatment?”

Rich intends to argue a self-defense claim on behalf of Cunningham.

As additional information continues to be gathered, prosecutors have requested a minimum of 45 days before scheduling the next court hearing. Following the hearing, the prosecutor’s office declined to provide further comments. Their office asked anyone with information on the fatal shooting to contact Niles police.

The night of July 4, Niles police responded to a 911 call in the 300 block of High Avenue just after 11 p.m. Officers found 23-year-old Brandon Bork with a gunshot wound to the head in the driveway of the residence.

After being transported to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, he later succumbed to his wound. Niles Police chief Jay Holland called it an isolated incident with the shooting having occurred after an altercation at a party at the High Avenue home.

Holland said a “pretty solid case” was presented to the Trumbull County Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, noting that Cunningham had left the area then told a resident he had “just killed somebody,” before the teen returned to the scene, confessing to officers he committed the killing, the report states.