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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to start this hour in West Palm Beach, Florida, where a sentencing hearing is under way for 14- year-old Nathaniel Brazill. The teenager faces 25 years to life for fatally shooting his teacher, Barry Grunow. It happened last year. Some of Grunow's family came forward today asking for the maximum penalty for the teenager.
Our coverage begins with Mark Potter in West Palm Beach -- Mark.
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
Actually, from the last hour the court has been hearing the beginning of now the defense presentation in the sentencing hearing of Nathaniel Brazill. Brazill himself is expected to testify before the court later today. His lawyer says that he will apologize to the family of Barry Grunow, the teacher that Nathaniel shot and killed. His parents will also appear in court and are expected to ask the judge for leniency.
Now in the court right now we are hearing from the first of the defense witnesses, a woman named Jacqueline Patterson, who is the deputy superintendent of schools in Milwaukee. She interviewed Nathaniel Brazill and said in part because of some domestic problems that he had been witnessing and holding inside, not talking about, he was in a very emotional state on the day that he shot his teacher.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACQUELINE PATTERSON, EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANT: It was the best day of his life, you know, on that Saturday. That Monday, it's carried out, he brings flowers that last day of school. It's this and then the suspension. Boom. We're back to the worst thing that could happen to him. All this stuff seemed like it was building up in him.
When I talked to him about what was he thinking, we were going back, what are you thinking, his comment, he wanted to see Dinora. He wanted to see these girls. And all this other stuff was just exploding inside of him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POTTER: Now the girls that he wanted to see -- that was brought out in trial -- were two friends that he went to see in class. Barry Grunow would not allow him to see the girls. He drew a gun at his teacher and shot him in the head. That was the context for that statement.
Now, for most of the morning the prosecution presented its witnesses, including family members, Grunow family members, also some close friends and colleagues. They talked about Barry Grunow's life and the devastating impact of his violent death. Among those speaking this morning, Dorothy Ryan, a fellow teacher at Lake Worth Community Middle School. She says many people have been deeply affected by Barry Grunow's death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOROTHY RYAN, TEACHER: He has made spouses afraid for their loved ones to work in a school, parents afraid for their children to attend public schools. Many teachers have quit and changed professions and teachers that do like their jobs have become apprehensive to disciplining misbehaving students. I would like to reiterate what is going to be done to discourage our youth from committing violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POTTER: Now, the judge, Richard Wennet, also heard this morning very emotional testimony from Barry Grunow's widow, Pam Grunow. Also heard from his mother, his father-in-law, and two brothers, including Kurt Grunow, who described Barry Grunow as the most moral man that he had ever met and his best friend.
Now, Nathaniel is being sentenced under Florida's very strict gun law. He's being sentenced as an adult and he faces a minimum 25 year prison sentence. He could, however, face a life prison term. Once he is sentenced, state officials say that he will be transferred from the Palm Beach County jail to a prison processing center near Miami, where he will be kept separate from adult inmates. Still to be determined whether he will then be transferred to a juvenile facility to begin serving his very lengthy prison term -- Daryn, back to you.
KAGAN: Mark Potter in West Palm Beach, thank you.
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