WASHINGTON - A boy who killed his teacher when he was 13 has been sentenced by a Florida judge to spend the next 28 years of his life in prison in a case that has focused international attention on the state's harsh treatment of juvenile offenders.
Neither the gravity of thecrime, nor the guilt of Nathaniel Brazill, who is now 14, have ever been in question. He was convicted in May of the second-degree murder of Barry Grunow, his favourite teacher, who sent him home from middle school on the last day of the 2000 summer term for throwing water balloons in class.
Brazill collected a handgun from his grandfather's biscuit jar, and shot Mr Grunow pointblank in the face when he refused to let him back into class to say goodbye to friends.
By declining to find him guilty of first-degree murder, the jury spared him life sentence without parole - the most severe punishment of all given that Brazill was too young to face the death penalty.
Nonetheless, Brazill, in chains and wearing a bright orange prison uniform, stood trembling as he heard Judge Richard Wennet, of Palm Beach County Circuit Court, tell him that he would remain in prison until he was 41.
By imposing a 28-year sentence without parole, Judge Wennet chose to go beyond the mandatory minimum term of 25 years. Although he will start his sentence under special juvenile conditions, Brazill is likely to enter the general prison population when he is 18.
After his release, moreover, he will spend a further two years under "community control" - which amounts to a form of house arrest - followed by five more years on probation.
