PITTSBURGH — The attorney for a 17-year-old boy charged with stabbing 20 fellow students and a security guard during a rampage at his Western Pennsylvania high school has asked a judge to move the case to juvenile court or, failing that, to another county so potential jurors won’t be influenced by heavy media coverage.

Defense attorney Patrick Thomassey wrote in Friday’s motions that Alex Hribal of Murrysville is more likely to be successfully rehabilitated if the case is moved to juvenile court, where he could be incarcerated only until he’s 21.

Hribal is charged as an adult in Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court, where he faces potentially decades in prison if he’s convicted of 21 counts each of attempted homicide and aggravated assault for the April 9 attacks at Franklin Regional High School.

If the case isn’t moved to juvenile court, Thomassey claims an impartial jury will be difficult to select due to heavy media coverage.

“The coverage has been prejudicial to Hribal because it has painted him with a broad brush comparing him to the Columbine Shooting defendants and other notorious actors who chose to commit violent acts at schools,” Thomassey wrote.