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Jury Finds Brazill Guilty of Second Degree Murder
Aired May 16, 2001 - 15:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take our viewers immediately to West Palm Beach, Florida, to prosecutor Marc Shiner talking in the case about Nathaniel Brazill, 14-year-old, convicted of second degree murder charge today down in West Palm for the killing of his schoolteacher.
Let's listen to the prosecutor now.
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MARC SHINER, PROSECUTOR: The system does work. It's sad that we had a 13-year-old young man on trial for killing a teacher who was really a role model, who a lot of teachers would emulate to be just like, who really loved and cared about what he was doing. We're at a loss. We lost a great teacher. The community lost a young man who may have had a promising future. The Grunows lost, the Brazill family lost, this community lost. Based on all the attention this case has gotten, our country has lost.
It's a sad day. It's a sad state of affairs that we had a young man, 13 years old, and it's shocking, terrifying, a young man is accused of murder. But the jury has spoken. They found him responsible. The judge will decide what he feels is a proper sentence. And the jury has spoken.
I would like Miss Barns to say a couple words, if you don't mind.
BARBARA BURNS, STATE ATTORNEY: First all, I would like to echo Mr. Shiner's comments and just add that, there are lot of people in pain. Even today, after a verdict has been rendered. You still have the many students who had to come in here and testify as to what they saw and heard. They will forever be effected by the incident itself. I'm sure that they've received the news now while they're in school as to the verdict.
They have lost a teacher that they've admired, but let's not forget, they lost a friend of theirs, a peer of theirs. It's been traumatic for them all the way around. The jury has spoken on this. Mr. Shiner and I felt very strongly that we presented a very good case, a case that had the facts there. We feel very strongly or equally as strong that the jury treated this with respect and seriousness and did come back with a just verdict.
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Whether they thought that the crime was not committed or that this was a compromise because they couldn't agree?
BURNS: We have no way of knowing that. We can't get in the minds of jurors. I'm sure that there'll be some that will want to speak to the press, and you will be able to find that out.
SHINER: We're going to answer questions a little bit later on. This is really not the proper forum to do this. There's a lot of questions you all have, and we will be taking care of doing that at a later date. We can schedule that. The only other thing I would like to add is that, really, the lesson that I learned, and hopefully we all learned in this particular case is, we should all go home and kiss and hug our kids.
Give them a big hug. Get to know them better. Make sure that if there's something is going wrong in their lives we know about it as parents, as teachers as friends. If you have any doubt, search their rooms. If they have a gun somewhere hidden it shouldn't be that way. Parents should know that. And I'm not blaming the Brazill family. They did the best they could do under the circumstances. In no way am I trying to blame them.
But the lesson that should be taught in this case is get to know our kids better, love our kids more, and make sure if there's something going wrong in their lives, we need to stop it before something like this, like another tragedy like this ever effects any other community like it did ours. And we hope we never see that again.
QUESTION: Mark, you're satisfied with this verdict?
SHINER: Whatever verdict the jury reached, we would agree with. Satisfied is a tough question to answer that. We agree with the verdict. Whether they came back as charged of a lesser, we knew, we in our heart knew that the jury would do the right thing, and we were confident being part of a system, that jurors do right thing for the most part all the time.
QUESTION: Do you think the judge has much leeway in this case? What do you see as the -- where the sentence stands?
SHINER: I'm not going to answer questions about sentencing. It wouldn't be appropriate at this time. That's more for Judge Wennet's purview to do, and that will be taken care of at a later date.
This is the Detective Steve Mattetuchi (ph). I'd like to introduce him. He's the lead detective from the Lake Worth Police Department and he may want to have a few words with you.
I just want to make a quick statement and say that the Lake Worth Police Department is satisfied with the jury's verdict. And I want to thank all the detectives and the help that I've had and support from the Lake Worth Police Department over the past year. It's been incredible.
It's been a tough year. I don't want to see any surrounding agencies anywhere in the country or anywhere in the state have to go through what we have been through. It was a tough year, and we appreciate again, all the support that everybody's lent to us. Thank you.
CHEN: From down in West Palm Beach, Florida, the late word coming from those involved with the prosecution of Nathaniel Brazill, now 14 years old, 13 years old at the time he killed his favorite teacher, Barry Grunow down in Lake Worth, Florida.
Talking about the jury's decision in the case of Nathaniel Brazill earlier this afternoon, in the last hour or so, we heard from the jury that they have found him guilty of second-degree murder. The question had been whether the jury would find him guilty of first- degree murder, which, in Florida, carries a mandatory life term if he was convicted of that. He was not.
He was convicted of second degree murder which could carry 25 years to life. That decision will be made by a judge at a later point in time. Just now we are hearing from several of the people involved in the prosecution of the case. The last person you heard from, the detective in the case.
Also we'd heard from two of the prosecutors, Marc Shiner, the lead prosecutor, and Barbara Burns. Both involved in the prosecution of Nathaniel Brazill saying that they found this to be a just verdict, saying that they would not blame Nathaniel Brazill's family, but, as Marc Shiner said, the lesson of this case is to get to know our kids better.
CNN is continuing follow-up on the story. Now let's go back to TALKBACK LIVE.
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