Teens Set 15 yr old on Fire(Critical Condition) Then Laughed At Him

[annalyzer]

anyone have the link to the perps mugshots? I saw it the other day somewhere.

[texanne]

IMO they were trying to kill him by burning him alive. Anything less than 20-30 years in prison would be a miscarriage of justice.

[annalyzer]

Burned Teen Speaks for First Time Since Attack
Michael Brewer requests comfort food in hospital in first words spoken

Updated 11:15 AM EST, Fri, Nov 13, 2009

Michael Brewer may have simple tastes, but after being at death's door for a month after a horrific burn attack, comfort and comfort food were probably the only things on the 15-year-old's mind.

Two days after he was taken off a ventilator, the teen spoke his first words yesterday, asking for a dollar so he could buy french fries and a milkshake, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

Brewer has been in intensive care at the burn unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital since the Oct. 12 attack in which five classmates poured rubbing alcohol on him and set him ablaze.

With burns on over 65 percent of his body, family members have been looking for any sign of progress.

"We're all crying tears of joy," Brewer's great-aunt, Patti Gendron, told the Sun-Sentinel.

Brewer had been breathing with the help of the ventilator since he was brought to the hospital, able to communicate only through squeezing hands and other small gestures. He was taken off of the ventilator on Tuesday.

"My heart is jumping out of me," Gendron said.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-b...-69970907.html

[LiveLaughLuv]

3 Florida teens arraigned in burn case
By Rich Phillips, CNN
November 19, 2009 12:54 p.m. EST

Fort Lauderdale, Florida (CNN) -- Three teens accused of setting a 15-year-old friend on fire were being arraigned Thursday on charges of attempted murder.

Denver Jarvis and Matthew Bent, both 15, and Jesus Mendez, 16, are charged as adults with one count of attempted murder in the second degree in the October 12 attack in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

They are being held without bond. The arraignment was in Broward County Circuit Court before Judge Dale Cohen.

Two other boys ages 13 and 15 have been charged as juveniles.

Prosecutors say Jarvis, Bent and Mendez were in a gang that poured alcohol over Michael Brewer, 15, then set him ablaze in a dispute over $40, a video game and a bicycle.

Brewer jumped into the swimming pool at his apartment complex to put out the flames, witnesses say.

Brewer suffered burns over 65 percent of his body. He's reported in guarded condition at the University of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital Burn Center, where he's been in a private room since the incident.

Detectives say witnesses told them that Mendez used a lighter to set fire to Brewer after Jarvis poured alcohol over him. They said Matthew Bent encouraged the attack.

Authorities say Mendez admitted setting Brewer on fire, and that he made a "bad decision," according to an arrest transcript.

Detectives with the Broward County Sheriff's Office have been unable to interview Brewer. Until last week, he had been on a ventilator to keep him alive.

"We hope that we can maybe get a statement this week," said sheriff's spokesman Jim Leljedal.

"Detectives have been waiting for him to recover to the point where he's strong enough to give us a complete statement," he said.

Doctors say Brewer is improving but his condition is tenuous because of the severity of his burns and the possibility of infections. Most of his burns are on his back and buttocks; his face and hands were largely spared, doctors say.

Brewer's doctor told CNN the teen faces several more months in the hospital and will need multiple skin grafts and surgeries.

"They still have to perform several operations on him for skin grafting, but his parents are with him all the time," said Lorraine Nelson, a hospital spokeswoman.

"I don't tell him what happened," Brewer's mother, Valerie, told CNN affiliate WFOR-TV. "I just tell him he's in the hospital and he's safe and he's getting better.

"And he'll say, 'Am I going to be OK?' And I say 'Yes, Michael. You're going to be fine. You're going to be just fine,' " she said.

Investigators believe Brewer owed Bent $40 for a video game. When Brewer did not pay,Bent stole Brewer's father's bicycle, police say. When Brewer reported him to the police, Bent was arrested.

The next day, the group surrounded Brewer. The five boys called Brewer "a snitch" and set him on fire, witnesses said.

The Brewer family told WFOR that none of the families of the accused boys have tried to contact them, but it doesn't matter.

"We can't focus on it. They'll get theirs is all we can say. I don't focus on it," Michael Brewer's father, also named Michael, told WFOR.

If convicted they could face up to 30 years in prison.

A court-appointed psychologist who has examined two of the five boys told CNN they are competent to take part in legal proceedings and assist their attorney.

"I can describe both of them as being afraid, being fearful," said forensic psychologist Michael Brannon, who did not identify the boys.

"I can describe both of them as being tearful at various times during the interview, especially when talking about the specific incident which led to the injuries of the victim," he said.

Psychologists are often brought into cases involving teenagers and young adults to judge their mental capabilities and determine their competency to proceed. Psychologists also must evaluate whether the defendants can talk about what happened and communicate effectively with defense attorneys.

"I don't think they expected to have happened, what happened," Brannon said. "It's a horrible event that occurred, but this was not their conceptualization, in my opinion, of what was going to happen."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/19/...ef=igoogle_cnn

What the heck did they think would happen as they doused him with lighter fluid and lit that lighter? It wasn't their conceptualization that a human would be burnt alive...

Unbelievable...