A district judge dismissed a case Monday against two juvenile defendants initially being prosecuted as adults for an alleged Dec. 30 robbery at gunpoint of another boy in Butler.

District Judge William Fullerton dropped the adult cases against the two male 17-year-olds after determining the alleged weapon used in the robbery was a pellet gun, and would not be considered a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors originally used that categorization under state law as justification for charging them as adults. But after a preliminary hearing Monday, Fullerton told Assistant District Attorney Amanda Scarpo, who prosecuted the case, that the prosecution failed to prove the case warranted trying the juveniles as adults.

“These (cases) are dismissed and they should've been filed as a juvenile case,” Fullerton said after repeatedly asking Butler City Police Officer Benjamin Rogers, who testified at the hearing, if the alleged gun used by the defendants was a deadly weapon under the state's crimes code. Rogers did not say it was a deadly weapon.

In Pennsylvania, a minor 15 years or older can be charged as an adult if the minor uses a deadly weapon in the commission of the following crimes: rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated assault, robbery, robbery of a motor vehicle, aggravated indecent assault and kidnapping.

Leading up to Fullerton's decision to drop the cases against the two teens, he cited a lack of evidence from prosecutors in proving that the pellet gun was capable of deadly force and that therefore the gun was not a deadly weapon.

Scarpo said it was too early to decide if they would refile it as a juvenile case.

Originally, both defendants were arraigned by District Judge Lewis Stoughton on felony charges of robbery and conspiracy and misdemeanor charges of terroristic threats and disorderly conduct. He set bond at $500,000 for each defendant. One teen is from East Brady, and the other Fairview Township.

The teens were placed in the Western PA Child Care on Route 38 in Allegheny Township following the arraignment. They were subsequently turned over to the county's juvenile court authorities. They will have a detention hearing Wednesday for their release.

Police said the victim, a 15-year-old Butler boy, told them he was approached by the suspects around 6 p.m. in the area of North McKean and East Brady streets, near the Butler Area Public Library.

Court documents state the victim told police he handed over a vape pen valued at $35 and about two grams of marijuana and then ran away. But on Monday, no mention was made of the marijuana.

The victim testified Monday he was with two friends whom he met on Snapchat when the two defendants came up to them and “just pulled out a gun,” the victim testified.

“Honestly, I thought it was fake,” the victim said of the gun. On cross-examination by Armand Cignolani, a court-appointed lawyer representing the East Brady teen, the victim said the defendants never threatened him.

“I didn't think anything was going to happen,” the victim said, noting that he wasn't worried about being injured. The victim also said under cross-examination by Cignolani and Benjamin Levine, a private attorney representing the Fairview Township teen, that the pellet gun never was aimed at the victim.

The victim testified that one of his Snapchat friends called police to report the alleged crime. But when police responded, the victim was alone and law enforcement was not able to make contact with the two Snapchat friends.