Murder Trial Opens in Florida for Boy, 14, Accused in Teacher’s Death

For the second time this year, Florida has put a teenage boy on trial for first-degree murder. The 14-year-old is accused of shooting an English teacher who was about to flunk him.

Prosecutors said Nathaniel Brazill, a former honor roll student, decided to kill Barry Grunow, 35, on the last day of school because Brazill was about to get a failing grade.

On Thursday, jurors at the Palm Beach Circuit Court viewed grainy black-and-white videotape from a school security camera that shows the boy pulling out a gun, holding it with both hands in front of his body at eye level, then fleeing down the school hallway. Grunow is seen in a classroom doorway dropping to the floor.

If convicted, Brazill, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, could be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Outside the courthouse in West Palm Beach, Fla., a small number of picketers gathered to protest the decision to try him as an adult. “They are trying to make him wear adult shoes,” demonstrator Mary Seacher, 69, told Associated Press. “He has a child’s mind.”

Similar controversy was sparked by a Fort Lauderdale case in March, when Lionel Tate, 14--who was 13 when he stood trial as an adult--was sentenced to life in prison for beating a 6-year-old girl to death. Tate, who was 12 when his playmate died, said he had been imitating his pro-wrestling heroes on television.

According to his lawyers, Brazill, a seventh-grader at Lake Worth Middle School, didn’t intend to kill Grunow on May 26. The boy was angry, the defense asserted, because he had been suspended by a counselor earlier in the day for throwing water balloons.

Brazill returned to school on his bike with a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol that police said he had taken from his grandfather’s home days earlier. In a statement to police, the boy said he pointed the palm-size pistol at Grunow, one of his favorite teachers, to frighten him after the man refused to let him talk to two girls in his class.

On the opening day of trial Wednesday, defense attorney Lance Richard said the gun discharged after Brazill’s hand began to shake. Richard also maintained his client had no way of knowing Grunow was about to give him an F.

The slain teacher was married and the father of two children.

Under oath, four of Brazill’s classmates described how he pulled the gun from his pocket, pointed it at the teacher’s head, cocked it and fired once. Some of the students said that the gun was so tiny they thought it was a toy and that they believed Brazill--who was well-mannered, got good grades and had perfect attendance--was just playing.

One of Brazill’s friends, Brandon Spann, 19, testified Thursday that on the day of the shooting, Brazill told him he had been suspended and that he was going back to “mess up the school.” Spann said Brazill asked him whether he had a gun. Under cross-examination, Spann said he thought Brazill was kidding.

Brazill has pleaded not guilty. Clad in a white shirt and blue tie Thursday, he betrayed no emotion as his friend testified. He is expected to take the stand next week.

The young defendant also faces a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm. Another Lake Worth teacher, John James, testified that after hearing the gunshot, he opened his classroom door and saw Brazill. James said the boy pointed the gun at him as he was running down the hall. His statement was corroborated by the videotape shown to jurors.