Remember that kid who shot a Fla. teacher?

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

I'm sick of commenting on how lawyers need to be taken out and skinned alive. Poor little Nathaniel Brazill -- he's such a victim...

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2002Nov14.html

 

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 14 -- A jury ordered a gun distributor today to pay $1.2 million to the widow of a teacher who was gunned down by a student.

 

As part of a $24 million judgment in a landmark case targeting inexpensive handguns, the jury pinned most of the fault for the 2000 slaying of Barry Grunow on the gun's owner and on school officials. But the jury ruled that gun distributor Valor Corp. should shoulder part of the blame because it didn't sell the gun with a safety feature, such as a lock, that could have prevented Nathaniel Brazill, 13, from using it.

 

Pam Grunow sued Valor, contending that the type of small, cheap pistol Brazill used often falls into the hands of juveniles and criminals and can be confused with a toy.

 

Her attorneys said that the verdict marked the first time a gun distributor was found liable in a death and that it should signal the gun industry to stop selling the weapon they called "a nasty little piece of junk."

 

"This is a huge victory for safer guns. That's the message that comes out of this," said Allen Rostron, an attorney for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. "The jury ruled this company could have distributed a safer gun that would have made it harder for Nathaniel Brazill to commit this murder."

 

Valor attorney John Renzulli, though, also characterized the verdict as a win, saying it represented a compromise because Grunow had asked for $75 million.

 

"I think this will have no impact whatsoever on the gun industry nationwide," Renzulli said.

 

Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, said lawsuits against companies that sell guns are flawed because they don't take into account personal responsibility.

 

"How can you hold an industry or a gun manufacturer responsible for the criminal acts of an individual?" Arulanandam said.

 

Both sides said they plan to appeal. Grunow attorney Bob Montgomery said he will ask the judge to order the gun distributor to pay the full $24 million.

 

The verdict assigned half of the blame to Elmore McCray, the family friend who kept the gun unlocked in a dresser drawer, where Brazill found it. The panel of six women also concluded that the school board was 45 percent responsible for allowing Brazill to bring to school a weapon that he had hidden in his pocket. Valor, the jury ruled, should take 5 percent of the blame.

 

The panel decided that Pam Grunow deserved $10 million for her loss and that her children -- 7-year-old Samuel and 3-year-old Lee-Anne -- each deserved $7 million.

 

The judgment against McCray and the school board will not be collected because they were not parties in the case.

 

Brazill, who was sentenced to 28 years behind bars for killing his teacher, said he pointed the .25-caliber Raven handgun at his favorite teacher to scare him and never intended to pull the trigger.

 

He stole the gun five days earlier from McCray after being sent home on the last day of school in May 2000 for throwing water balloons. He returned to the school to say goodbye to two girls and became angry when Grunow wouldn't let him inside his classroom.

 

Valor, with 14,000 licensed firearms dealers nationwide, argued that the gun did what it was designed to do and was not at fault. "If you misuse it and if you fire it at someone then, yeah, you would expect that bad things will happen," Renzulli said.

[Guest hardyz1]

When I read stories like this, I really have nothing to say. I just sit speechless and shake my head.

 

What...why...how...but he...it...

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH

[Guest EricMM]

The panel decided that Pam Grunow deserved $10 million for her loss and that her children -- 7-year-old Samuel and 3-year-old Lee-Anne -- each deserved $7 million.

I'm sorry but I don't understand this. Are they implying that this womans husband would ever be worth 7 million? No teacher is worth 7 million... Let alone 24 million. I don't understand these crazy figures.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Why does Valor deserve any of the blame. A Saturday Night Special is perfectly legal to make and selll.

[Guest Retro Rob]

What has our country come too? People are pathetic. That is all I can even think to say after seeing this.

[Guest cynicalprofit]

Guns, who needs'em.

[Guest EricMM]

Soldiers, Police, Hunters...

 

Certainly Criminals of all sorts find them very useful..

[Guest Retro Rob]

Guns aren't the problem here. The problem lies within the youth of America.

[Guest DrTom]

I remember this case when it first made the news. The responsibility for the shooting is the shooter's, and he should be made to pay some form of restitution if he ever does something with his worthless life.

 

My earlier thoughts on the Brazill case

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Man, if you have any stock in a gun company -- SELL! The sue brigade will be flooding the market with b.s. lawsuits. Oh, and for anyone that didn't hear about this part of the story (I'm sure Big Media didn't publish this gem when it occurred), this is for you. Poor little Nathan...

 

(from 3/22/01)

 

http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/news/...s/grunow12.html

 

Nathaniel Brazill hopes that when he gets out of prison, a friend will be waiting at the gates with a gun, according to coded letters Brazill wrote released by prosecutors Wednesday.

 

"My attorney says after I get sentenced they'll probably move me to a place in Orlando. When I get out I want to see you and Travis standing at the gates waiting. Hopefully you'll have a T for me - preferable (sic) a 9," Brazill wrote in a March 9 letter to a fellow inmate.

 

In a separate letter, Brazill established a jumbled-up code for letters, noting that T by itself means gun.

 

Brazill, 14, shot Lake Worth Middle School teacher Barry Grunow the final day of school. He is charged with first-degree murder and set to go to trial April 30.

 

Late last month, prosecutors charged Brazill with another felony, solicitation to commit perjury, for a letter he wrote to a friend from Lake Worth Middle School, asking her to change her story if she's called to testify.

 

No new charges have been filed as a result of this last letter, said a state attorney's office spokesman. The letter came from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Mike Edmondson said.

 

According to the address on the envelope, Brazill sent the letter to Michael Hughes, another inmate at the jail, who lives on a different wing. Hughes, who turned 18 in January, is charged with burglary of a dwelling and grand theft from a dwelling.

 

An inmate's mail is always opened to check for money or contraband, but not read, said Diane Carhart, sheriff's office spokeswoman. Inmates are subject to searches at any time, she said.

 

Brazill's defense attorney, Robert Udell, said he anticipates prosecutors will say that the coded sentence is referring to the Tech 9 gun. A Tech 9 is a semiautomatic 9mm machine pistol.

 

Assistant State Attorney Marc Shiner could not be reached for comment.

 

Udell again called Brazill's comments in letters "much ado about nothing.

 

"The fact that Nathaniel is interested in guns is not a secret; that young males today are attracted to and fascinated by guns is no surprise," Udell said.

 

Police say Brazill came back to school with the gun the final day of school after he was suspended for throwing water balloons. Witnesses have told police that Brazill was angry that day and said he was going to be "all over the news."

[Guest EricMM]

0 ZERO sympathy.

 

He'll be in for 28 years, and if he wants a gun when he gets out, he can go back in for 28 more.

 

Christ, what a tardo. Kids these days, hah!

 

And another thing.

 

Defense Lawyers these days! Acting like what he did was ok.

 

AND ANOTHER THING.

 

Prosecution Lawyers these days! Suing someone because they sold a gun to an adult. FOR SHAME!

 

These days are some very odd days. Very stupid very crazy days...

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

Defense lawyers ARE PAID TO REPRESENT THEIR CLIENT TO THE BEST OF THEIR ABILITIES

 

How can you blame them for this? Jesus. The only ones we can blame are ourselves (and the jury) for this type of verdict. They are our peers, after all.

[Guest EricMM]

What if that kid shot the defense lawyers kid or something sometime down the road.

 

I guess you're right, but it still stinks.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"Defense lawyers ARE PAID TO REPRESENT THEIR CLIENT TO THE BEST OF THEIR ABILITIES

How can you blame them for this? Jesus. The only ones we can blame are ourselves (and the jury) for this type of verdict. They are our peers, after all."

 

They don't have to accept the case. And if this is the kind of work they envisioned doing, then they best be ready to endure the slings and arrows anti-lawyer folk like me are going to hurl at them.

 

Why should I blame myself for this outrage? I wasn't the scumbag lawyer who thought hey-that-kid-isn't-responsible-for-killing-a-teacher-the-gun-distributor-is. I wasn't one of the pinhead jurors who didn't lock this killer up for life. All I had a part in this mess is reading about it on the news.

 

But somehow, someway, I'm sure Ronald Reagan is responsible for all this...

[Guest DrTom]

Defense lawyers aren't the problem. Everyone is entitled to a competent defense, even if we know he's a scumbag and simple connect-the-dots paints him as guilty. The problem is the legal system provides not only for defense, but for a ridiculous amount of blame-shifting and a dearth of personal responsibility.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

I don't care, I just have a natural prejudice toward lawyers. Can't do nothing about it. My other prejudices:

 

Female NFL sideline reporters

Academia

Jews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(kidding on the Jews one -- I don't hate them THAT much...)

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Academia?

[Guest EricMM]

Jews? What's wrong with Jews?

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Just kidding on the Jews one (There are plenty of reasons to hate someone other than race, imo...)

 

Academia = college students, college professors, faceless bureaucrats/administrators that get their jobs because of someone they know within the system...

[Guest EricMM]

I am a college student.

 

I like many college students, they are my friends. Bigot!

 

Actually I am an university employee in the weakest sense (I answer phones ) But the amount of beaurocracy I have to deal with alone is staggering. I don't think my boss' boss' boss actually DOES anything but wander around and tell us to clock out exactly on time.

 

There are so many people employed by universities it is sad, since probably half or less of them actually teach.

 

Also, it seems like half the professeurs, especially science ones, are not there to teach, they are at universities to get research grants, and teaching is just a joke to them. They don't care about their students, and that's the worst thing in a teacher, kindergarden or grad students.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

lol -- I don't hate ALL college students, but spending some time in Sappy Valley, PA has made me really jaded when it comes to this type of person...