|
Florida Teen to be Sentenced for Murdering Teacher
LAKE WORTH, Florida., July 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Fourteen-year-old Nathaniel Brazill appeared before a judge Thursday for sentencing in his conviction for the murder of his middle school teacher, CNN said Thursday.
The middle schooler now faces 25 years in prison, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, when Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Richard Wennet sentences him Thursday, although the judge has said he may wait a few more days.
Brazill shot 35-year-old Barry Grunow in the head when the Lake Worth Middle School language arts teacher refused to allow Brazill, who had returned after a suspension, to talk to a girl in his class, Court TV reported.
The shooting occurred on May 26, 2000, the last day of classes in the 1999-2000 school year at Lake Worth, CNN said. Brazill's conviction of second-degree murder by a Palm Beach County jury came almost exactly a year later, on May 16th of this year, according to Court TV.
Although Brazill's defense has argued that the child was too young to face the 25-year sentence, a judge ruled last month that Florida's gun use law allows for Brazill to be sentenced as an adult, CNN said. The prosecution had initially sought a first-degree murder conviction, which carries a life sentence without possibility of parole.
Under Florida's 1999 10-20-Life law that will define Brazill's sentence, carrying a gun in a crime, firing a gun in a crime and harming someone by firing a gun in a crime each respectively result in 10 years, 20 years and 25 years-to-life with no parole, according to CNN.
The Sentinel said that during his trial, Brazill showed little emotion beyond crying at the stand as he claimed the shooting was an accident.
But two Palm Beach County sheriff's workers who have been subpoenaed to testify about Brazill's behavior and comments outside of the courtroom claimed he was rowdy in his holding cell and made comments like, "If I don't like any of the jurors, could I shoot a couple of them?"
One of the workers, Lt. Mark Chamberlain, said in the Sentinel article that Brazill said he was anxious to get back to his holding cell to watch Con Air, a 1997 movie in which prisoners hijack an airplane taking them to prison.
"[Brazill] said, 'Con Air is on tonight and I want to learn how to be a better criminal and break out of handcuffs,'" Chamberlain was quoted in the Sentinel as saying.
However, a child psychologist unrelated to the trial suggested that such comments might have been nothing more than childish bravado, the Sentinel said.
During the trial, Grunow's widow, who had been expected to ask for the maximum sentence, testified that she could not make an objective decision about Brazill's sentence, Court TV said. "Nathaniel has consequences to face and everyone must consider the cause. Why does a young person make such a choice?" she was quoted by Court TV as saying.
Although most of the thirteen witnesses who testified for the prosecution focused on the loss they felt in Grunow's absence, Grunow's brother Kurt made it absolutely clear what he expected from the jury, the Court TV article said.
"Barry's children will grow up without him. They've been given a life sentence without their father," Kurt Grunow was quoted by Court TV as saying. "Please don't punish them again by letting the person who murdered their father out on the street when they're adults."
|
