Michigan Boy Convicted in Preteen Killing of Stranger

One of the youngest murder defendants in U.S. history was convicted of second-degree murder Tuesday for shooting a stranger outside a convenience store with a rifle when he was 11.

In a case that stirred fierce debate over how to treat young offenders, Nathaniel Abraham, 13, sat expressionless and looked straight ahead as the jury announced its verdict after 18 hours of deliberations over four days.

He was acquitted of first-degree murder, which could have sent him to prison for life with no chance of parole.

Nathaniel was arrested two days after the Oct. 27, 1997, killing of Ronnie Greene Jr., 18.

At his sentencing Dec. 14, Nathaniel could get a maximum of life in prison with a chance of parole or he could be sentenced as a juvenile and held until he is 21.

Prosecutors said they would recommend keeping him imprisoned until at least age 21 and then reviewing his case to determine whether he has been rehabilitated.

Nathaniel admitted to police he fired a .22-caliber rifle but said he was shooting at trees and did not mean to hit Greene, who was standing 60 to 90 yards away.

Nathaniel was already suspected in nearly two dozen crimes--including theft, beating two teens with metal pipes and snatching a woman’s purse at gunpoint--when he shot Greene.

“The message in this verdict is there’s responsibility here,” prosecutor Lisa Halushka told reporters after the verdict was read. “There’s responsibility for the loss of Ronald Greene.”

Nathaniel was the youngest person in Michigan to be tried as an adult for premeditated murder under a 1997 Michigan law aimed at toughening penalties for youthful offenders.

Defense attorney Geoffrey Fieger had argued Nathaniel has the mental capacity of a 6-year-old. Fieger called the verdict “repugnant” and an embarrassment to the U.S. justice system.

The human rights group Amnesty International said the verdict is another sign the United States lags behind the rest of the world in its treatment of children in the criminal justice system.

Jury foreman Daniel Stolz told reporters the jury agreed Nathaniel knew the dangers associated with shooting the rifle, but the evidence pointed toward a second-degree murder conviction.

Robin Adams, mother of the murder victim, said she hopes Nathaniel will get help.