A youth, who was 15 when he participated in the 2022 stomping death of a Niagara man, is asking the court to allow him to serve the remainder of his sentence out of custody.

“I know that I did a bad crime when I was younger but I’m more mature now to understand that,” the teen told Judge Janet Booy in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Monday.

“I’m trying to do better.”

The offender, now 18, and a second teenager were sentenced in the fall of 2024 to two years in custody for the second-degree murder of 31-year-old Raymond Riley.

Both defendants, who cannot be identified in accordance with the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were given credit for pretrial custody that reduced their time left to serve to 1.7 years.

Individuals convicted under the YCJA are subject to an annual

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