Jury: It wasn't premeditated

Jurors convict Nathaniel Brazill of second-degree murder for shooting his teacher, sparing him a mandatory life sentence.

[AP photo] Defense attorney Robert Udell puts his head on Nathaniel Brazill's shoulder after hearing the verdict Wednesday. Prosecutors had sought a first-degree murder conviction.

Compiled from Times wires

Correction (5/18/01): Gov. Jeb Bush has not taken an official position on whether 14-year-old Nathaniel Brazill, who was convicted May 16 of killing his teacher, should have been tried as an adult. In the case of Lionel Tate, another juvenile convicted of murder, Bush has said he would consider clemency, or an expedited clemency process, if asked. The story below includes incorrect information from the Associated Press on both points.

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 17, 2001

WEST PALM BEACH -- Moments after jurors decided Nathaniel Brazill was a murderer but spared him a mandatory life sentence for killing his English teacher, the teenager calmly turned to his defense attorney.

"Not too bad," he said Wednesday in a hushed Palm Beach County courtroom.

In issuing a second-degree murder verdict, jurors found the 14-year-old boy didn't intend to kill Lake Worth Middle School teacher Barry Grunow when he took a stolen gun to school last year.

Prosecutors had sought a first-degree murder conviction, saying Brazill planned to fire the fatal shot. Brazill and his attorneys said the shooting was an accident and asked jurors to consider manslaughter.

The teen was led out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies and broke down in tears when he was out of the public's sight, defense attorney Robert Udell said.

Barry Grunow

Barry Grunow's brother, Kurt, slumped against the wooden court bench and rested his fingers on his eyes as prosecutors explained the sentencing process. Grunow's widow, Pam, did not come to court Wednesday. She has appeared at the trial just twice, listening to some of the prosecution's opening and closing arguments.

"Don't be discouraged," prosecutor Marc Shiner told Kurt Grunow, who wiped away a tear.

Brazill's single shot didn't just add South Florida to the country's list of school shootings. His trial put Florida under national scrutiny yet again for putting juveniles through the adult criminal justice system.

Udell says he thinks state law would allow Circuit Judge Richard Wennet to sentence Brazill "to anything from zero to life;" Shiner said he thinks the law prescribes a sentence between 22 years and life.

"We don't think the judge is going to pound on Nathaniel," Udell said. Wennet may have the option of sentencing Brazill as a juvenile because he was 13 when he killed Grunow, but Udell said Wennet would sentence him as an adult.

The state may ask the judge to sentence Brazill to life under the state's 10-20-Life scheme that dictates prison sentences for crimes committed with a firearm, Shiner said. Udell said Brazill is exempt because of his age. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for June 29.

Two of Grunow's brothers have said publicly they want a life sentence for Brazill. The teacher's widow hasn't told prosecutors what sentence she thinks is appropriate.

About 15 minutes after the verdict was read, Pam Grunow answered the door of her Lake Worth home and told a reporter apologetically that she didn't want to talk about it. At the courthouse, the Grunow family appointed Shiner as their spokesman, telling him they didn't want to talk with reporters and asking for a bailiff to escort them to their cars.

"It's terrifying to think that this could happen, that a 13-year-old could walk into a school with a gun and shoot his teacher," Shiner told NBC. "I want to go home to my kids and hug them and kiss them and tell them how much I love them. I think that's what we need to take out of this: We need to know our kids better. We need to look into their hearts and their souls. And if you have any questions, search their rooms. Maybe a tragedy like this could be prevented."

Udell said he was disappointed that the nine-woman, three-man jury convicted Brazill of second-degree murder rather than the lesser charge of manslaughter. During 12 hours of deliberations this week, jurors asked that portions of witnesses' testimony be read back to them.

"This war is not over yet," he added. "We won a little battle today. We get through sentencing, then the appellate court is going to take a look at this. . . . It's not over."

Jurors said Wednesday that their decision hinged on whether Brazill had enough time to reflect on his actions as he pointed and cocked the gun at Grunow, 35, when the teacher refused to let him talk to two girls inside his classroom. Brazill had returned to school with a stolen .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun after he had been suspended earlier that day -- the last day of school -- for throwing water balloons.

"The 11 seconds that he held the gun and the four seconds that he cocked it. That was the whole bone of contention right there," juror Toni Sellier said.

Sellier said the jury determined Brazill was already upset about being suspended and snapped when an authority figure told him no. "Mr. Grunow was in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said.

Another juror, Odette Bliss, said: "I just think he got caught up in the moment. It's hard to say what he was thinking."

"(Teens) do things. They don't think four or five seconds ahead," said juror Dennis Franqui. "I don't think the evidence was clear that it was premeditated and that he was going for Mr. Grunow. People do strange things and they don't understand the consequences."

Juror Corleen Wheeler said: "We decided that he went to school to create havoc, to do something, to kill. But we went back to the fact that he liked Mr. Grunow, and Grunow just happened to be there. For it to be first-degree, it had to be premeditated to Mr. Grunow. That's why we came back with second-degree."

Brazill's family, which rejected an offer from prosecutors before the trial that called for 25 years in prison in exchange for admission to second-degree murder, left the courthouse without comment.

"I'm tired," Brazill's mother, Polly Powell, said, leaning on her brother as she walked out. "I'm so tired."

The Rev. Thomas Masters, a family friend, said Powell is still hopeful.

"She realizes it's not over yet," he said.

At Lake Worth Middle School, principal Bob Hatcher appeared on classroom televisions just before 3 p.m. to tell teachers and students of the jury's decision and explain what second-degree murder meant. He then warned students about the media waiting at the school gates and ended the broadcast with a moment of silence for Grunow and Brazill. Grief counselors planned to visit the school today.

Hatcher, speaking to reporters later, wouldn't give his thoughts about the verdict, except to say it was fair.

Brazill is the second South Florida teenager to be convicted of murder. In January, a jury convicted Broward County resident Lionel Tate, 14, of first-degree murder in the 1999 death of his playmate, 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick. Tate was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Like Tate, Brazill was charged as an adult. Gov. Jeb Bush, who has said he will expedite a clemency hearing for Tate, expressed sympathy for Brazill's victim Wednesday but said the boy should not have been tried as an adult.

"There is a different standard for children," Bush said. "There should be a sensitivity to the fact that a 14-year-old is not a little adult."

-- Information from the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Cox News Service, Miami Herald and Associated Press was used in this report.

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