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American Morning

Jurors Deliberating in Brazill Trial

Aired May 15, 2001 - 11:00   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In West Palm Beach, Florida, jurors are back at it today, trying to decide the fate of a teenage boy accused of killing his teacher in a fit of rage. The jury in the Nathaniel Brazill trial deliberated about three hours last night without reaching a verdict. CNN's Mark Potter is covering the trial for us in West Palm Beach, as he has been the entire time. Let's go to him now for the latest -- Mark, good morning.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Leon. The jury resumed its deliberations about two hours ago. It's going over the evidence and the testimony. It will also have to consider the law in this case before finally determining the fate of 14-year-old Nathaniel Brazill.

The jury got case yesterday late in the afternoon after almost a day of closing arguments. The jury met for about three hours, as you said, and then the jurors went home for the evening. This jury is not sequestered.

Now, today, as you can see here, the jury came back into the courtroom asking the judge to show them again the videotape of the shooting that was taken by school security cameras almost a year ago. The judge allowed them to come down from the jury box to look at video. And he played it for them a couple of times.

The jury also asked to hear some testimony read back from four of the witnesses, including Nathaniel Brazill himself. The jurors right now are back in the jury room deciding specifically what portions of the testimony they want to hear. And they will be coming back to tell the judge, we presume, shortly.

Now, the nine woman and three men on this panel have a number of options to consider here. Nathaniel Brazill, as we all know by now, is charged with first-degree murder. That's the charge recommended by the prosecution.

But the jury can consider some lesser changes. And they include second-degree murder and manslaughter. And those charges have lesser penalties than first-degree murder. First-degree, if there is conviction for that, would lead to a mandatory life prison term without parole. Second-degree murder calls for 22 years in prison to life. That's the range there. And manslaughter with a firearm, according to the attorneys in this case, could draw a sentence ranging from 12-and-a-half years to 30 years in prison. But maybe we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves here. It's still up to the jury to decide which charge that they select. The prosecution recommends first-degree murder. The defense concedes that there was a crime committed here, but says it was not first- degree. The defense attorney says the crime committed here was manslaughter. So we'll see what the jury has to say, although it may be a while now, the jury is asking to have, as I said, some of that testimony read back. And that could take some time. Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: All right, thanks, Mark. Mark Potter reporting live from West Palm Beach.

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