Days before his 18th birthday, a Fairview Township boy has asked the courts to move the attempted murder charge he’s facing from adult to juvenile court.

“He’s a scared, freckled-faced kid who has never been in trouble in his life,” lawyer J.W. Hernandez Cuebas said of Zechariah McGrady.

Zechariah and his 19-year-old brother Jeremiah McGrady are accused of burglarizing and vandalizing the Zion Assembly Church of God in Karns City on Sept. 20. Afterward, the teens allegedly walked to Adam Bell’s house on Olive Street about 2 a.m. and broke in through a back door.

Bell, 34, surprised the intruders, who allegedly assaulted and stabbed the man while his wife and two children were sleeping.

Bell collapsed after fending off the suspects. He was treated at a Pittsburgh hospital for injuries including severed arteries, a cut liver and collapsed lung.

The brother are charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, theft, simple assault and reckless endangerment.

Jeremiah is in Butler County Prison on $175,000 bail. Zechariah McGrady is being held without bail at the Jefferson County Juvenile Detention Center in Ohio.

Although Zechariah is a juvenile — his 18th birthday is Nov. 6 — county prosecutors charged him as an adult because of the severity of the charges. Under Pennsylvania law, anyone 15 years or older who is accused of committing a serious crime with a deadly weapon is automatically charged as an adult.

Although court records have indicated Jeremiah was the knife man in the attack, Zechariah reportedly pointed an Airsoft pistol at the victim.

Both brothers are scheduled for formal arraignment on Tuesday.

In a written motion to the court, Hernandez Cuebas asked that either Zechariah’s case be moved to juvenile court or a hearing be scheduled to consider the matter. The motion argues that Zechariah has no criminal record, and he will respond to the treatments available in juvenile court better than the adult court options.

There has been no ruling or hearing state set.

County District Attorney Richard Goldinger refused to comment on the specifics of Zechariah’s case. However, he said, in circumstances like these it is standard practice for a case to be filed in adult court, and it’s equally common for the defense to request the case be moved to juvenile court.

“I’m not surprised by this request,” he said.