Michael Day,17, of Huntington, will be tried as an adult for second degree murder.
Day received the news Monday when Cabell County Circuit Court Judge Alfred Ferguson issued his ruling.
Police said that Day, along with 19-year-old Jarrett Roscoe Bailey of Huntington and an unidentified 16-year-old male murdered a homeless man, 52-year-old Gerald E. King, Jr., July 1.
If convicted, Day faces spending the rest of his life behind bars.
The 16-year-old and Bailey face malicious wounding charges for the beating of William Porter, who was also homeless.
The 16-year-old will have an adult transfer hearing September 18.