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CHRIS TISCHThe Largo man is charged with culpable negligence. His teenage son killed a friend during horseplay.
LARGO - Today will not be an easy day in Pinellas County courtroom No. 7.
A teenage boy will be summoned to the stand to give testimony that could help send his father to prison.
A family will listen to a doctor describe how a bullet killed their little boy.
A jury will see a photo of a seventh-grader face-down in a pool of blood, the toggle of a video game still in his hand.
Today is the second day of the trial against Louis S. Mevec, who is charged with culpable negligence in the shooting death of 12-year-old Sean Caroline.
Prosecutors say the loaded .357 handgun Mevec kept under his couch wound up in the hands of his 14-year-old son, who accidentally shot Sean during horseplay Sept. 5. The shooting occurred after the boys skipped school and went to the Mevec apartment. Mevec was working at the Home Depot that afternoon.
During opening statements Tuesday, prosecutor Bill Loughery said Mevec is guilty because he left the loaded gun in such easy reach of children, who were at several times unsupervised in his Largo apartment.
"The facts are pretty much undisputed in this case," Loughery told jurors.
However, defense attorney Debora Moss said Mevec didn't think his son had any interest in the gun, nor did he think the boy knew where it was stored.
"He took reasonable steps to protect his children and to protect other children from this firearm," Moss told jurors.
If convicted of the third-degree felony, Mevec, 53, faces six years and four months in prison. Judge Brandt Downey could reduce that term, though he has previously denied a defense motion to depart from sentencing guidelines.
Downey said he expects the trial to end today.
Mevec's son, also named Louis, admitted guilt to a manslaughter charge in October and was sentenced to a residential treatment program in San Antonio, Fla. Louis was released in April and now lives with his father in Largo, Moss said.
Prosecutors plan to call the junior Mevec to the stand, meaning the boy could provide testimony hurtful to his father, a single parent to Louis and his younger brother. The boys' mother was living in New York at the time of the shooting.
In addition, Downey will allow prosecutors to show jurors one photo of the crime scene, which shows Sean lying dead in a bunk bed.
"This is the most unpleasant thing I can possibly think of," Moss said of the trial.
Loughery said Mevec kept two guns in his home, the .357 under the couch and an unloaded .380 under his mattress. Mevec used gun locks when he lived in New York but no longer used them.
Though he told his sons not to play with the guns, he never taught them gun safety, nor did he store the guns in the safe he kept in his apartment, prosecutors said.
Moss said Mevec carried the guns because he was a firefighter in New York who sometimes felt unsafe coming and going from the fire station. She said while New York requires gun locks, Florida does not. When Mevec retired from the fire service in 2001 and moved to Florida, he left the locks behind.
Mevec continued to keep the guns because of security concerns, which became more serious when he suspected a burglar had entered his Florida apartment. In fact, the night before the shooting, Mevec took the gun out to ensure it hadn't rusted under the sofa.
On Sept. 5, Mevec's sons, Sean and two other boys skipped school after missing their bus stop. Louis mentioned while on the bus that there was a gun in his apartment, Loughery said.
When the boys got there, they watched television and horsed around. Louis took the gun out and unloaded it. The boys pretended to shoot one another.
The gun was put back but was taken out twice more. After the third time, Louis thought he had again emptied the gun of all six bullets. He pointed the gun at Sean and pulled the trigger as Sean played the video game Grand Theft Auto III. The other boys were in the living room watching television and heard the clicks.
"They heard click, click, boom," Loughery said.
Louis came out of the room screaming, "Oh my God, I've shot Sean." He called 911.
Police arrived and found Sean dead. The bullet hit him between the eyes and exited the back of his skull. The video game was still running when police arrived. Only five bullets were on the table.
Sean's death was devastating to his family. His parents, Sean and Jeanne, have described their son as a warm and funny child who didn't like guns. They declined to comment while the trial is ongoing.
The couple have been accompanied in court by gun safety advocates who want people to learn the importance of gun safety in the home.
Moss said Mevec likely will take the stand today in his own defense. She described him as a good parent who thought his boys listened to his warning about the gun.
"He trusted them not to touch the gun," Moss said. "He had no idea."
- Chris Tisch can be reached at 727 445-4156 or at tisch@sptimes.com