Depends on how close he is to being 18. Ringleaders always get the blame and pay the price.
If they send him to Juvenile Hall to “await trial,” and he should happen to have a birthday
there, then he can be tried as an adult, which at 18, we are assumed to be adults and we are
responsible for our actions.
I don’t pretend to know much about the law, but are you sure of that? Would his lawyer not object to his being tried as an adult if we was technically not an adult at the time of the crime?