Friday June 29 5:28 PM ET
By Merlin JnBaptiste
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida judge said on Friday he had to follow state sentencing laws in the case of Nathaniel Brazill, meaning the 14-year-old boy convicted of killing his teacher last year could face more than 25 years in prison.
``This is not a court of policy, the court does not make the laws,'' Circuit Judge Richard Wennet told the Palm Beach County court at a sentencing hearing for Brazill, who was convicted last month of second-degree murder.
Brazill was found guilty of killing 35-year-old Barry Grunow, a Lake Worth Middle School English teacher, with a .25-caliber handgun in May 2000 on the last day of the school year. The boy said during the trial that he pulled the trigger accidentally.
One point at issue in Friday's hearing was whether, given Brazill's age, the judge had to follow Florida's 10-20-life gun crimes law, which sets minimum prison sentences for gun crimes: 10 years if a gun is used, 20 years if it is fired and 25 years to life if someone is hurt or killed.
Under the law, Wennet could sentence Brazill to at least 28 years in prison, with the additional three years coming from another conviction for pointing the weapon at another teacher as he escaped.
Wennet said the 10-20-life law did apply in Brazill's case. Had he decided it did not, he would have given himself more leeway as he would be following sentencing recommendations of 22 years to life.
ATTORNEY TO APPEAL JUDGE'S RULING
Brazill's attorney, Robert Udell, argued that the 10-20-life law did not apply to Brazill as he was too young, and said after Wennet's ruling that he would appeal.
A prosecutor in the case, Barbara Burns, argued Brazill should be sentenced as an adult since he was convicted as an adult.
Friday's hearing was the first step in sentencing Brazill and another hearing has been set for July 26.
Brazill's case attracted attention nationally both as an incident of school violence and because of controversy over how juveniles accused of serious crimes should be tried and punished.
His trial followed the conviction by another Florida court in March of 14-year-old Lionel Tate for battering a 6-year-old playmate to death. Tate, tried as an adult for a crime he committed when he was 12, was sentenced by a Broward County judge to life in prison.
Testimony in Brazill's trial showed he was sent home early from school for throwing water balloons. He retrieved a handgun he had found in his grandfather's cookie tin, returned to school with the weapon and shot Grunow in the head at his classroom door.
The verdict spared Brazill a mandatory life sentence on a first-degree murder conviction.
Psychologist Phil Heller testified for the defense in the sentencing phase, saying Brazill showed remorse for what he had done and could be rehabilitated.
``People say he shows no remorse, he really meant to kill him (Grunow). No, that's not him,'' Heller said. ``He was a good kid until the gun went off.''
Brazill's maternal grandfather, George Washington Brazill, told reporters after Friday's hearing that he wanted his grandson to get a fair sentence. ``He should get whatever a juvenile is supposed to get, not what an adult should get.''
� 1997
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