FRANKLIN, Venango County — The attorney for 13-year-old northwestern Pennsylvania boy charged with murdering his grandparents has asked that his case be moved to juvenile court.

As a result, today’s preliminary hearing for Zachary Proper, of Oil City, has been postponed. The hearing was to have determined whether he’d stand trial as an adult of the Oct. 7 slayings of his grandparents, 69-year-old George Fross and 67-year-old Dorothy Fross.

A Venango County judge has scheduled a conference for Nov. 13 to determine when the defense motion will be heard.

Proper’s attorney and county prosecutors haven’t returned calls for comment.

Proper faces up to life in prison if convicted as an adult, but incarceration or supervision only until he turns 21 in juvenile court. He’s being held in a juvenile facility in Erie.