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CNN Live At Daybreak
Sentencing Hearing for Nathaniel Brazill Set to Get Under Way
Aired July 26, 2001 - 07:05 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In West Palm Beach, Florida, a sentencing hearing begins next hour for a 14-year-old boy convicted of shooting his teacher to death.
CNN's Mark Potter is outside the courthouse right now with a preview of today's testimony.
Mark, I think everyone is bracing for some pretty emotional testimony today.
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're going to hear from a number of witnesses in about an hour. This hearing will begin here at the Palm Beach County Courthouse before Judge Richard Wennet. We are told that the hearing could take up most of the day.
Now, still to be determined is whether the judge, after hearing from all those witnesses, still has time to actually sentence the boy today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice over): Fourteen-year-old Nathaniel Brazill faces a minimum 25-year prison sentence with no reduction for good behavior. He is being sentence as an adult under Florida's tough new gun law.
For shooting and killing Lake Worth Middle School teacher, Barry Grunow, prosecutors are expected to ask that Brazill be given an even stiffer sentence. He could get up to life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barry is dead. And he is not any less dead because the person who pulled the trigger was 13 instead of 23. There are some crimes that require an appropriate sanction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly, we think this young man should spend, if not the better part of his life, all of his life in prison, because we don't want to see another victim again.
POTTER: The defense argues that for several reasons, Brazill should receive no more than the minimum 25-year sentence.
ROBERT UDELL, ATTORNEY FOR BRAZILL: Because Nathaniel was 13 at the time of the commission of offense, because the person to be sentenced has no prior criminal history whatsoever, and because the person to be sentenced has exhibited no anti-social conduct of any degree whatsoever in his entire life.
POTTER: Before imposing sentence, Judge Richard Wennet is expected to hear from Barry Grunow's family. His brothers have said publicly they want Brazill to get a life sentence.
Sheriff deputies are also expected to say they heard Brazill make threatening comments while in custody. The defense argues they were jokes that while inappropriate, were harmless.
For the defense, Nathaniel Brazill's parents are scheduled to appear in court asking for leniency. And as he did in his murder trial, the boy himself is expected to make a statement.
UDELL: Nathaniel wants to express that he is sorry, and he wants the family to know that. And he wants them to know that he couldn't possibly understand how they feel.
POTTER (on camera): The defense still argues that even though Brazill carried a loaded pistol into the school and aimed it at Mr. Grunow, he never intended to shoot and kill his teacher.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
POTTER: Now, state prison officials say that once Nathaniel Brazill is sentenced, he will be transferred to a prison-processing center near Miami. It is still unclear whether he will then be transferred to a juvenile facility to at least begin serving his very lengthy sentence -- Carol, back to you.
LIN: Mark, as you mentioned, his hearing is likely to take up most of the day. Who do you think is going to be taking the stand first?
POTTER: It looks like the prosecution will go first with representatives of the Grunow family. And then probably this afternoon, we will hear the defense case, Nathaniel's parents, and the most dramatic witness of all, Nathaniel Brazill himself, who is expected to make a very brief statement according to his attorney.
LIN: Got you. All right, thank you very much, Mark Potter, standing by there.
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