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Mark Potter: Prosecutors try to 'shake' teen murder defendant

Mark Potter

CNN Correspondent Mark Potter has been in West Palm Beach, Florida, covering the murder trial of 14-year-old Nathaniel Brazill, who is accused of intentionally shooting and killing teacher Barry Grunow a year ago. On Wednesday, both the defense and the prosecution rested, setting the scene for jury deliberations.

Q: What is the mood of the community regarding this trial?

POTTER: Well, everybody is waiting to see what happens. This is a case that has captured the attention of the community. It is a horrible case: a well-regarded teacher, a father of two, a husband was shot dead by a student that no one would have suspected of this. And so people are just waiting to see what the jury does. The jury will get the case on Monday and will determine if this shooting was accidental or if it was intentional.

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Q: How has this case affected the gun-control debate in Florida, if at all?

POTTER: I don't think it has affected it at all. There is a point that can be made by those opposed to the ready access to guns, but I'm not sure there's any groundswell. In fact, I'm sure there's not.

Q: How significant was it that the defendant said he checked his weapon to make sure a live round was loaded before he approached the teacher with the gun?

POTTER: Well, that certainly flies in the face of Nathaniel Brazill's contention that this was not an intentional shooting. In fact, the prosecutor made the point that Brazill intended to carry the gun and he intentionally pointed it at the teacher. He cocked the pistol but then did not mean to fire it, only fired it accidentally. And the prosecutor's point is that that stretches credibility, to think that is what happened.

Q: What differed in today's testimony by the boy from yesterday's testimony?

POTTER: It was a much different feel today under cross-examination than when the boy was receiving friendly questions from his own attorney. The prosecutor in this case was trying to shake the boy, trying to get him to change his testimony, trying to convince the jury the boy is lying when he said that he shot the teacher accidentally.

Over and over he questioned the boy's testimony, pointed out lapses of memory, tried to get the boy to explain how the gun could have gone off accidentally. The boy could not explain that. He pointed out that Nathaniel, after shooting this teacher who he claimed was a favorite of his, never tried to help the man as he fell to the floor dying.

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