June 13, 2000, WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- (AP) -- A 13-year-old middle school student was indicted as an adult Monday on a charge of first-degree murder with a firearm in the shooting death of his teacher.
If convicted as charged, Nathaniel Brazill would face life in prison without hope of parole.
Protesters decrying the expected indictment had earlier been marching around the Palm Beach County Courthouse, banging on bongo drums and shaking tambourines.
When the indictment was handed up, they gathered in a hallway outside the courtroom and sang the civil rights spiritual, ``We Shall Overcome,'' as they left the building.
Brazill was charged in the May 26 gunshot slaying of Lake Worth Community Middle School teacher Barry Grunow. Grunow was killed in the last few minutes of the last class on the last day of the school year.
Brazill was also indicted on a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm.
Had he been tried and convicted as a juvenile, he could have been held only until he was 21.
His first appearance was set for 9 a.m. Tuesday in Circuit Court in West Palm Beach. Chief Circuit Judge Walter Colbach Jr., who accepted the filing, ordered the teen transferred from a juvenile facility to the county jail.
One of the leaders of the courthouse protests said earlier the adult charges should have never been considered.
``We feel he should be treated as a juvenile, period,'' said the Rev. Thomas Masters, pastor of New Macedonia Baptist Church in Riviera Beach. He called for the ``the community to come together, black and white, for not trying this child -- and I emphasize child -- as an adult.''
Neither Brazill nor his lawyers attended the hearing, the state attorney's office said.
Brazill's lawyer, Richard Udell of Stuart, had called the shooting an accident. He said the fault lies with the .25-caliber Raven handgun Brazill stole from his grandfather's house days before the shooting.
After being sent home from school for throwing water balloons, Brazill returned and went to Grunow's classroom, where he asked Grunow if he could talk to two girls in the class, police said.
When the English teacher shooed him away, Brazill pulled the gun from his pocket and fired, authorities said.
Udell said the gun accidentally fired when Brazill pulled it out.
The boy, a musician with perfect attendance with dreams of becoming a Secret Service agent for the president, was being held in a juvenile detention center in West Palm Beach.
The tragedy has sparked national discussion about the punishment of children accused of violent, deadly crimes.
While State Attorney Barry Krischer publicly called for adult charges against Brazill, legal experts like retired Broward County Judge Frank Orlando said the state had choices beyond locking Brazill up for life.
``We have many options more appropriate for this 13-year-old offender, and we can maintain him in (juvenile prison) custody at least until he is 21 years of age,'' said Orlando, director of Nova Southeastern University's Center for the Study of Youth Policy.
A Palm Beach Gardens woman watching the morning protest at the courthouse with her 15-year-old son said Brazill should be sent to an adult prison, if convicted.
``A 13-year-old knows exactly what he is doing,'' said 43-year-old Rebecca Kay. ``Kids are getting away with everything. Let's baby a kid who walks into a school and shoots someone? It's nuts.''