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American Morning

Nathaniel Brazill to be Sentenced Today

Aired July 26, 2001 - 11:07   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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: A young Florida boy may disappear today into the state prison system; 14-year-old Nathaniel Brazill shot his teacher to death last year. He could spend the rest of his life behind bars under Florida's strict gun laws.

CNN's Mark Potter is watching today's sentencing hearing in West Palm Beach and is following all these issues this raises about how to treat young wrongdoers -- Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this morning Judge Richard Wennet has been hearing a lot about the life of teacher Barry Grunow and also about the impact of his death at the hands of 13-year-old Nathaniel Brazill last year. The prosecution moments ago actually ended its presentation and now we are into the defense case. The first witness for the defense is on the stand right now. She is a school official and we will be hearing from her for some period of time and then later today we will be hearing from Nathaniel Brazill's parents and from the young boy himself.

Now, earlier today we heard from a number of family members, Grunow family members as well as from some of this close friends and colleagues. We last heard from Kurt Grunow, Barry's brother, who described Barry Grunow as a loving father, the most moral person he ever knew, and also described him as the best friend he ever had.

Earlier in the day in some very emotional testimony we also heard from Barry Grunow's mother. She spoke to the court, saying that in her opinion the shooting was not accidental and that Nathaniel Brazill should be punished, in her words, "to the full extent of the law." She also said that she misses her son dearly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHYLLIS GRUNOW, VICTIM'S MOTHER: This last year has been the worst for me, Pam, my boys and Kay. When Barry was killed we lost a precious human being. He was a gentle, caring person, a great son, husband, father and brother. Barry's life was his family, friends and people. I miss his phone calls late at night. I miss seeing him on Sundays. I just miss him terribly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: The court also heard a very sad statement from Barry Grunow's widow, Pamela Grunow, and also heard from his older brother Steve, who recommended that the court impose a life sentence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE GRUNOW, VICTIM'S BROTHER: I would really hop[e that this young man goes to prison for life, partly because of what he did and also to prevent him possibly doing any injury to more people in the community in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Later today, perhaps this afternoon, as I said, we expect to hear from Nathaniel Brazill's parents, who are expected to ask the court for leniency. The defense attorney, Robert Udell, also says that Nathaniel Brazill himself will make a statement to the court and will apologize to the Grunow family.

The young man faces at the very minimum a 25 year prison sentence. He is being sentenced as an adult under Florida's very strict gun law. He could, however, be sentenced to life in prison. The judge will impose sentence perhaps later today, if he gets through the testimony in time. Otherwise that sentence will be deferred but the case is moving very quickly today. It is quite possible that we will have that sentence later this afternoon or perhaps this evening.

Back to you.

FRAZIER: Mark, is it your experience with this judge that he will make a statement explaining his reasons behind the sentence whenever he does pronounce it?

POTTER: Yes. I think that he will. He has also been known to move this case along very quickly and that's why I said that I would not be surprised to see him impose that sentence today. He moves quickly. He doesn't mess around with time. I think we're going to see that and yes, I think we will get an explanation of how he feels about this case.

FRAZIER: Mark Potter reporting from Florida. Mark, thank you very much.

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