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Judge Thomas Leone denied a motion for bail for Lucciano Spagnola, 17, in an appearance in Cayuga County Court via videoconference. Spagnola is in custody at Hillbrook Detention Center in Syracuse.

Spagnola, along with co-defendants Gage Ashley and Tyree Anglin, was charged in the Nov. 15 shooting death of Poole at 8 Delevan St. Auburn Police Department Chief Shawn Butler called the death "another tragic and senseless outcome resulting from the scourge that surrounds the illegal activities and use of narcotics in our community" during a press conference last fall announcing the arrests.

Later that month, Spagnola waived his right to a preliminary hearing at his second arraignment in Cayuga County's Youth Part, a specialized court dealing with cases involving defendants under 18 years old. Spagnola, Ashley and Anglin were all indicted in January on second-degree murder, first-degree attempted robbery and fourth-degree conspiracy.

During Thursday's proceeding, defense attorney Ben Susman argued for Spagnola to be released on his own recognizance or provided bail. He said dates for motions in the case and dates for trial have been pushed out indefinitely due to court proceeding restrictions established during the COVID-19 pandemic. That has caused Spagnola to be incarcerated for nearly 10 months with no clear trial in sight.

Susman said Spagnola is a "life-long Cayuga (County) resident" who has no criminal history, although he has had some prior juvenile cases. Susman said he and co-counsel Norman Chirco have had regular communication with Spagnola but they felt it would be beneficial to Spagnola's case for them to meet in closer proximity with him.

"He wants to make himself available to the services of Cayuga Counseling, to be able to attend school virtually, to be able to attend services and be monitored that way," Susman said. "He will return to court and it would also make his representation on our behalf, his attorneys, representing him a much easier task than the distance that we've had to maintain to communicate."

Cayuga County Chief Assistant District Attorney Chris Valdina expressed frustration with the state suspending jury trials amid the outbreak, but said that's not a situation that prosecutors can control.

"We have no timeline on when we're going to be out of that situation," he said.

That said, Valdina said the community's safety must be considered, adding that he believed releasing Spagnola would be "a complete disaster."

Spagnola has a substantial juvenile delinquent history, Valdina continued, and he was "well known to the police" before the murder. Valdina said a person interviewed for the case had been assaulted, "where the assailants were mentioning, 'This is because of Lucciano that we're doing this.'"

Valdiana also said he believed Spagnola was a not lifelong county resident, saying he believed he and his family moved to the area from Syracuse fairly recently.

"If the defendant gets out, he's probably going to intimidate victims and witnesses, he's probably going to get arrested again, he's probably going to get in the local drug scene," Valdina said.

Leone said he is familiar with Spagnola, due to his experience as a family court judge overseeing Spagnola's juvenile delinquency proceedings.

Based on his knowledge of the case and his history with Spagnola, Leone said he could not "in good consequence" set bail on this case, and he will continue to remand Spagnola.

"We are trying to move forward as quickly as we can for jury trials," Leone said. "This trial will be one of the first ones that I do, and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to pull it together maybe by October, November or December. I'm hopeful, but we'll have a better idea soon enough."