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Florida briefly

By TIMES WIRES
Published September 14, 2006

Teacher's killer can pursue ineffective counsel claim

WEST PALM BEACH - A 19-year-old serving a 28-year prison sentence for killing his English teacher will get to present his case to a judge that he had ineffective counsel at trial, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Nathaniel Brazill shot and killed Barry Grunow at Lake Worth Middle School in May 2000 after the teacher refused to let Brazill enter his classroom to talk with two girls. He was convicted of second-degree murder.

Brazill filed the appeal, initially denied by a circuit judge, on his own behalf, claiming his trial attorney, Robert Udell, didn't represent him properly. The 4th District Court of Appeal reversed the lower court judge's ruling and sent the case back to the trial court for a hearing.

Ineffective counsel appeals are common post-conviction motions brought by inmates.

City settles with producer injured in police action

MIAMI - The city of Miami agreed to pay $180,000 to a documentary producer who sued after police officers hit him in the head with a mesh-covered ball of lead pellets during the free trade protests in 2003.

The beanbag that lodged under Carl Kesser's right temple required a three-hour operation to remove, his attorneys said. The videographer said he had to undergo therapy because he was left unable to fully open his mouth.

Several other lawsuits have been filed claiming that Miami police used heavy-handed, unconstitutional crowd control tactics during street protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit.

Kesser's suit claimed that police violated his civil rights. City attorneys were able to get that claim dismissed, but the city settled on his negligence claim.

[Last modified September 14, 2006, 00:58:20]