Man, 20, Takes Plea in Killing of Piper High School Classmate
Posted on: Friday, 14 April 2006, 03:03 CDT
By Tonya Alanez, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Apr. 14--A former Piper High School student facing a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing of a classmate pleaded to a lesser charge Thursday.
Kern O'Sullivan, 20, pleaded no contest to manslaughter with a deadly weapon. Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold set sentencing for June 7.
The charge carries a minimum sentence of nine years in prison to a maximum of life. Prosecutor Maria Schneider said she would argue for a 15-year term.
O'Sullivan is accused of killing Courtney Carroll, a popular Piper football player, during an off-campus brawl in November 2002. O'Sullivan and Carroll were 17 at the time.
The case went to trial in October, but the six-week proceeding ended in a mistrial .
O'Sullivan's attorney, John George, characterized Carroll as a bully who ran with a group called the "Wood Boys," a name drawn from nearby apartment complexes. O'Sullivan testified that he and his cousin had been repeatedly terrorized by Carroll and his friends in the weeks before the stabbing.
O'Sullivan maintains he was only trying to defend himself during the after-school fight at Piper Plaza in Sunrise. He testified he did not intend to hurt anybody.
O'Sullivan told the jury he picked up what looked like a screwdriver during the melee and swung it to keep his attackers away.
Schneider said she agreed to the reduced charge because Carroll's mother cannot bear to go through another trial.
"The idea of sitting in the courtroom day in and day out and hearing her son's character be assassinated is just more than she can deal with," Schneider said.
George said that because his client was 17 at the time of the killing, he would ask the judge to sentence O'Sullivan as a youthful offender. If Gold agrees, O'Sullivan would face up to six years in prison.
Tonya Alanez can be reached tealanez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4542.
-----
Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
NYSE:POL,
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Related Articles
- Leyritz DUI reading found to be false
- Suge Knight pleads guilty to battery
- Sun Country Airlines Adds First Bag Fee
- Disease is Swift, Response is Slow: Government Lets Flavoring Industry Police Itself, Despite Damage to Workers' Lungs
- A Diagnosis of Asthma, Until It Was Far Too Late: For a Montana Family, Passing Down a Small Business to the Next Generation Has Meant Passing Along a Fear of Disease
- Sun Announces Availability of Solaris 10 Operating System; World's Most Advanced OS Available for Free on Sun's Web Site
- Solar Bursts Mapped
- Sun Extends Sun Java(TM) Enterprise System Pricing Model to Windows and HP-UX
- Scientists Evaluate Earth's Magnetosphere
- Sun Microsystems Hopes Two New Software Projects Spark Turnaround
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds